


Pessimum

by Stowaway_Macaw



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Dissociation, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Heavy Angst, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Trauma, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:28:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 35,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stowaway_Macaw/pseuds/Stowaway_Macaw
Summary: The hermits are invited to a seminar outside of the server. As for what they may encounter, it's a mystery for now. Tango is trapped with no end in sight. If luck serves him well, then he just might discover why the seminar is surrounded by death.Who will die?Who is responsible?Expect the unexpected, and good luck.
Comments: 135
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

**Act 1: The Seminar**

I hadn’t seen actual sunlight in probably days. I don’t actually know. It was hard to tell since, well, I hadn’t seen actual sunlight in probably days. Decked Out was taking so much time, but I would be lying if I said that I didn’t love working on it. I was fastening another chain to the ceiling of the dungeon when I heard footsteps echo towards me from behind. I turned around once the chain was in place and saw Xisuma approaching me, his new strider armor blended well with the dungeon.

“Hey there. Whatcha up to?” I asked him, crossing my legs while I sat on my small piece of scaffolding. He smiled up at me.

“Hello, Tango. Just wanted to ask your opinion on something.” He held up a small envelope that I didn’t notice he was holding before. It had no server address on it, but it looked like it was made from some pretty nice paper.

“I got something sent to our server today. It’s an invitation. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea so I thought I’d ask you since you were the closest.” He reached up and handed me the envelope. It had already been opened so I simply slid the note out and unfolded it.

“It’s to a seminar.”

“Seminar?”

“Yeah. A bunch of people show up and discuss a certain topic, and this one is about survival methods. I read through it and thought it might be a nice idea to get some extra tips. It’ll last for a few days, so maybe it’s also going to provide practice? I’m not really sure.” Xisuma finished. I scanned the paper and saw that it was indeed a summons to a seminar about the best way to survive in a new world.

“Hm, it could be nice. I know some of us definitely need those tips.” That quip earned a chuckle from Xisuma and I handed the letter back to him. As I spoke, he put the letter back in the envelope.

“Yeah, that’d be cool. I think some of us should stay back to take care of the server though. I saw that all of us were invited, but I think over twenty people from the same group might be a little much. Maybe split the group in half or something?” I proposed. Xisuma nodded and smiled at me.

“Okay, that sounds good. I’ll get everyone together for a meeting then since we’d need to leave before the next scheduled meeting. Thanks, Tango!”

“Sure thing X! Oh, also, you got any heads? I’m missing a few.”

__________

“Aw, It’s formal?” Impulse questioned, sounding almost disappointed.

“What’s wrong with formal?” Mumbo asked, straightening his tie in feigned offense.

“I dunno, it just seems too stuffy…”

“Ooh, I’ve got some nice things I can wear!” Zedaph perked up.

“Same here! I’ve been meaning to try out some new clothes I made for a while now!” Grian obviously looked over the moon.

“Wait, you sew?” Wels questioned, visibly surprised.

“Yeah, you didn’t know? Actually, do you have anything other than your armor to wear?” Grain asked in return. Wels made a noise of general reluctant affirmation that let the group know that, no, he did not have any such clothing.

“Yeah, all I’ve got is my fancy armor, and I really don’t think it would be appropriate…” My mind flashed back to the few times I’ve seen Wels’s “Fancy Armor” and judging by the bulky helmet, gilded joints, and impressive plumage that adorned the whole thing, it was a good call to not wear it.

“Ooh! Me and Grian can make you something! We’ll make you look great!” Stress now looked just as excited as Grian and her eyes sparkled. Grian gasped in excitement.

“Yes! I have some bases we can work with too!”

“Perfect! I’ll bring the material!” Stress and Grian looked over to Wels who was apparently now dragged into attending the formal seminar.

“Survival tips, huh?” Doc mumbled to himself, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“You definitely look like you’re up to something, Docm.” Cub leaned forward to look Doc in the eyes from his position beside him.

“Hmm, maybe.” Doc said smugly.

“...Wait, if I want to go, do I have to wear a dress?” False asked from her spot in the circle.

“You have some fancy clothes, right? I’m sure you’ll look fine in those even if it’s not a dress.” Impulse offered from beside her.

“Yeah, I do. I guess I’ll just go with that then. Dresses can… get in the way sometimes. It’s been a bit too long since I’ve worn a long skirt.” False replied somewhat sheepishly. Impulse laughed.

“I mean, I for one am going to wear something actually comfortable, and I know Zedaph is probably going to do the same.” Impulse said. I decided to chime in.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Zed won’t be wearing a suit after last time.” I made sure my voice was loud enough for Zedaph to hear. He whirled around to face me, exaggerated agitation painted across his features.

“Wh- hey! It wasn’t my fault, you know! When you’re a master builder like me, you build a lot of muscle. I was simply too buff to fit in the suit.” Zedaph’s expression morphed to one of pride as he puffed out his chest. I laughed.

“Yeah, mm-hmm, totally, that’s the reason the jacket got stuck and totally not because you haven’t worn that suit for fifteen whole years before then.” I made the statement as sarcastic as possible.

“Wait, your suit jacket got stuck?” Grian asked, looking away from Wels and Stress to face our conversation. I decided to prod the fire a bit.

“Yeah, it was awesome. He could barely get it on and we had to help him, but by the end of the day, he couldn’t get it off and we had to take a pair of shears to it.” I was barely holding in laughter at this point. Grian looked like he’d just unearthed a great secret.

“Really!? You had to snip off your suit!?” Zedaph huffed, but I could see the smile tugging at his lips. He then assumed an expressive pose with a hand on his chest and his eyes looking forlornly to the sky in some sort of over-dramatized version of grieving.

“Alas, my poor jacket lay in shreds, stowed away in the back of some chest that hasn’t been opened in months.” Stress changed the subject by addressing the group.

“Oh, if anyone needs a suit I can lend them one! I have a bunch of replicas of Mumbo’s stuff. All in different colors too!”.

“That should help a lot. Alright, we’ll meet here, same time tomorrow for anyone who wants to go, but don’t feel pressured to go either. We need people to watch the server after all.” Xisuma announced. The other hermits all nodded and we started to chatter among ourselves about what the seminar might be like and who was planning to go. Personally, I wanted to go just for the fun of it, and it was definitely a plus that Impulse and Zedaph were going too. I’d have make sure to visit Stress and Grian since I didn’t have much to wear though.

__________

We had all brought some pretty fancy clothes, and I had ended up borrowing a red suit from Grian since Mumbo’s suits were way too big for me. It was tinted a dark burgundy and I had replaced the original green necktie with a black one. It was just Xisuma and me at the meeting spot so far, but there was still a decent amount of time before the actual meeting would take place. I was originally flying over with Zedaph, but he went back so that he could grab the bowtie he forgot at his base so that he could complete his vested attire. I opted to chat with X for a while.

“Lookin’ pretty good there, X.” Xisuma gave a nervous laugh and smiled at me.

“Thanks, Tango. I wasn’t really sure if this would cut it, so I’m glad I don’t look too silly.” I waved my hand dismissively. He really did look quite nice in a cool grey suit and dark tie, but his helmet did throw off the look a bit. At the very least, he had the sense to match the tie with the color of his helmet.

“Greetings. I hope I’m not late?” Cub suddenly showed up with Doc right beside him. Doc was wearing a traditional suit, though it was missing a sleeve since it would’ve gotten caught in the circuitry of his arm. It was simple, practical, and surprisingly well-fitted. Cub, in contrast, wore an extravagant white suit with black and blue accents, along with plenty of golden accessories adorning the outfit.

“No not late, but you’re looking flashy as ever.” I quipped. Cub didn’t say anything, but the look he gave me reminded me of the past convex incidents for some reason.

“He’s not the only one who’s looking flashy!” I heard Stress in the direction of the portal and saw her coming out while dragging Wels behind her and Grian was beside her, doing the same to False.

Stress, rather than the dress she seemed keen on, was wearing a pastel jacket over a dress-shirt as well as some matching pants, all brought together with a ribbon-like belt tied around her waist. Grian beside her was wearing something very familiar…

“Is that your Sherlock outfit?” Doc asked. Grian stopped and let go of False, huffing at Doc’s question and straightening his scarf as if it were a tie.

“Yes, and you don’t get to judge me. I ran out of options since I lent most of my designs out and there’s only so much you can do in one night.” Both his and Stress’s efforts were displayed behind them. False wasn’t wearing a dress, though she still looked somewhat out of her comfort zone. Her suit was an emerald color and the golden buttons stood out against the fabric. It suited her, despite her discomfort. Wels, who was beside her, looked equally out-of-place, but he didn’t look bad. The clothing was simple and obviously victorian inspired, but they had thankfully forgone any sort of complicated stitching in favor of a clean look. It was obvious that they had spent way too long on his hair that was usually a mess under his helmet. Honestly, I think his hair had grown from when I last saw it since it was down to right above his shoulders.

“I feel exposed…” Wels lamented, bouncing slightly on his toes. I would never know why he liked wearing so much armor, but hey, to each their own. 

Impulse and Mumbo were the last to show up, Impulse dressed in what I think was Mumbo’s suit but slightly altered and without the jacket while Mumbo wore his normal suit. Interestingly enough, I realized that Mumbo was actually wearing a cleaner version of his normal suit that wasn’t covered in the usual thin layer of redstone dust. It almost looked like a different suit. Impulse started talking before I could ask why he wasn’t wearing the jacket.

“Okay, okay, before you ask, this did have a jacket. I just couldn’t get the redstone out of it in time. I didn’t want to look like I just got dunked in glitter.”

“You realize what that implies about my regular appearance, right?” Mumbo asked, raising a brow. Impulse just chuckled in response.

“Everyone’s looking snazzy if I do say so myself.” Grian piped up. Doc scoffed.

“Well, of course you would think so, you made half of these outfits.” Grian didn’t flinch and just smiled an excessively proud smile.

“I did, didn’t I?”

“I’m actually kinda surprised your suit fit me. Aren’t you, like, a lot smaller than me?” I asked Grian. His proud smile faltered a bit and I would’ve laughed at the subtle cringe if it didn’t disappear so quickly.

“I may not be your height, but I know that you don’t have anything formal to wear. I just decided to plan accordingly.” Honestly, I wasn’t actually sure what he meant by that, but knowing Grian, he probably had a stash of outfits for nearly every occasion and for nearly every hermit. As for how he got my size, I’ll never know. Probably from another hermit. Hopefully. I don’t think I’d ever be able to look at him the same if I found out he could eyeball sizes, so I just left it alone.

“Alright, I’ve got the server address here if everyone’s ready to go.” Xisuma prompted, holding out a piece of paper with the place written on it. We all took a moment to memorize it before Xisuma logged us off one by one. 

Being in the strange, forceless place that was the space between worlds was always somewhat off-putting. I didn’t particularly mind though. Sure enough, when I opened the list of worlds I could visit, I was able to find the one that Xisuma had shown us.

“Go to world: Survival Seminar.” And just like that, I found myself outside of a rather impressive manor.

The building towered over me, built like a museum and portrayed as a mansion. The sun was dipping below the horizon behind the manor, painting the sky behind it in vibrant oranges and reds. Trees surrounded the front, and I could see a wall surrounding the whole place. The outer walls themselves looked unreasonably high and made from completely undecorated concrete. Not even vines crept up the wall like they did the walls of the manor itself. 

The lamps around the place flicked on one by one and the lights in the first level shone through the windows while the ones in the top two rows of windows remained dark. The grass in the front of the manor was planted in a very small and claustrophobic space that made it seem like the wall had been haphazardly placed directly in front of the manor, disregarding any area that might’ve been a lawn. There was no gate leading outside the wall, but the lack of trees peeking over the outside showed how the front of the manor was landscaped, even though it was hidden by the giant, out-of-place wall.

It was hard to believe that this whole place was supposed to be built for this seminar. There weren’t many windows, but the ones that were there were big, some letting me see right into the main area where I was beginning to spot the glimmers of a chandelier. The roof was square for most of the manor, though it pointed up into a flattened “A” shape right in the middle.

“This place is gigantic…” I heard Zedaph marvel at the structure from beside me, and Impulse responded rather quickly.

“No kidding. I wonder how big the rooms are.”

“We’ll just have to find out.” I said, walking towards the giant door. I could hear the footsteps of the ten other hermits behind me as I strode forward.

The inside was even more impressive. The ceiling stretched high and the chandelier I noticed earlier hung from it. There were two floors, the second floor had a railing that looked down to the lobby where we were and two staircases, one on each side of the lobby, led up to the second floor. Unique paintings that depicted scenes I'd never seen before lined the walls and I could see three doors that led to separate areas, one of which was open and I could see glass cases with several objects placed inside them.

The lighting was warm and the yellow tone was brought out by the encroaching night. The entire place was dead silent, save for our footsteps. My eyes were immediately drawn to the exhibit rooms, and through the open door, I could just make out the shape of a fossil and an opalescent diamond sword on display.

“So… we can pick our rooms, right?” Grian asked the group. I turned away from the door to look right at him and Xisuma nodded.

“That’s what the invitation said. I think we just make sure that nobody is staying in those rooms already?” Everyone nodded and I looked over to Zedaph and Impulse, hoping they wanted to explore as much as I did.

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s look around and see if we can find anything cool!” I announced. The others looked just as eager to explore and I went to look in the exhibit room with Impulse and Zedaph following close behind. I noticed that Xisuma and Cub followed us in as well.

The exhibits looked like they hadn't been touched for a while and were covered in thin layers of dust. Each was labelled with a plaque, though they didn't say much other than a quick description of what it was. The only things that actually told us anything about the creator or where it was found were the plaques under the paintings.

"Hey, Tango! Take a look at this!" Zedaph called from the other room. I went through the door and in the middle of the giant hall was the biggest bear I've ever seen. This thing looked like it was built like a ravager and a snarl was taxidermied onto its face.

"Woah, that's a big bear…" Impulse marveled as he entered with me.

"Yeah…" was all I could say. There was a beat of silence as both Cub and Xisuma walked in and gaped at the animal. Nobody spoke until Impulse mumbled a question.

"So uh… is it just me, or does something about that look… wrong?" I nodded. There was something about its face that didn't look like it was supposed to be there. I couldn't tell why, but it felt uncomfortable to see somehow.

"Is it the snarl?" Cub offered.

"No…" Xisuma said, his voice strained. He pointed to the feet of the bear and our eyes dropped down from the bear's face, just as the temperature in the room seemed to do the same.

"It's her cub." The tiny, fuzzy bear cub looked barely a few days old, but was made to have a snarl similar to the mother's, though it really didn't fit the ball of fluff, like someone had tried to make it look threatening.

"The plaque…" Cub stepped forward, refusing to acknowledge how his name matched that of our conversation topic and instead directed our attention to the plaque right in front of the taxidermy scene.

"'The fearsome polar bear,'" Cub read aloud from over my shoulder,

"'its offspring chooses where to direct its mother's ire, and once the target has been chosen, it is up to the survivor to fight back and make sure the beasts are killed.'" Cub finished reading and looked visibly distressed at the scene.

"How… interesting?" Zedaph said, expression unsure and voice questioning. I could tell he was just trying to break the silence, but his light tone was such a jarring contrast to the heavy mood.

"Right… let's go outside and look around some more. The sun is setting and we still haven't seen the back." Xisuma prompted. We all agreed and left the room.

There was a convenient door that led out of the exhibit room and into the back garden. It was already so close to being night and only the afterglow of the sun was visible over the wall and treetops. There were so many flowers that I was suddenly glad none of us there had springtime allergies. The paved path wound around the garden and would sometimes go through and over the flower beds. There was a shed in the very back and I could hear a fountain running. 

We followed the path to a gazebo that had wooden benches constructed into it. We all sat down on the cratelike benches and my eyes were drawn up the supports of the gazebo which were covered in pale pink flowers winding up them.

“What kind of flowers are these?” I asked.

“The pink ones or the red ones?” Zedaph piped up.

“Red ones?” Zedaph pointed to the ground, where some very strange looking flowers were scattered around. They were red and yellow in color and didn’t look as organized as the other flowers.

“Uh, both I guess?”

“I know the pink ones are… bellflowers? I think? I dunno I knew this a while ago but I forgot.”

“Yeah, they’re bellflowers. The red flowers scattered around the place are gloriosa lilies.” Cub offered. I hadn’t noticed the flowers before, but now that I looked closer, the lilies were scattered throughout the whole garden, between the other flower beds and even in the middle of some grass patches. They looked out of place.

“Do you think they just started growing here on their own?” Xisuma asked nobody in particular.

“I doubt it. This place is too polished for healthy flowers to be thriving on accident. Maybe they got a new gardener.” Impulse’s suggestion didn’t quite make sense to me, but I decided that it wasn’t important.

“Scar wouldn’t like how random the flower placement is in a place like this.” We all turned to face Grian who was strolling over with Mumbo behind him, and Doc behind him.

“Have you all chosen your rooms?” Mumbo asked.

“Grian jumped the gun and got a smaller room than the rest of us.” Grian pouted and Doc chuckled from behind them, obviously having been following them for a while without their knowledge. Both of them jumped when they heard him and a noisy quarrel started as they voiced their frustration with Doc who was grinning smugly.

“Actually, can we pick our rooms now? It’s pretty much night now and nobody else’s showed up.” I suggested. Xisuma nodded and took out his communicator.

“That’s a good idea. I’ll message the others.” He started tacking away, but then paused for a moment. I could see his brow furrow under his helmet.

“What’s up?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“I think chat is disabled…” Xisuma huffed before shoving his communicator in his pocket and standing up.

“Oh well. I’m off to pick a room, you guys wanna come?” We all trailed behind him after a unified noise of agreement. I was suddenly glad that I decided to bring plenty of my comfortable clothes.

I picked a room that was right on the corner of one of the walls since nobody had picked it yet. And honestly, when I saw the room, I realized just how big it was. There was more room in that place than I knew would ever be necessary. The bed was giant and there was a full bathroom attached with a window overlooking the gazebo in the garden. I still questioned why exactly this place was so luxurious, but it was comfortable at least. Then again, even though the build had such care put into it, it didn’t look like it was… cared for very well.

The place was huge, from the rooms down to the massive garden in the back. We all made sure to tell the others which rooms we picked out, but I still didn’t know where the “other guests” were. We couldn’t have been the only ones here, right? I cleared the thought from my head and took out my communicator.

Xisuma was right; I couldn’t send any chat messages and the only things there were the messages saying that we had all joined the game. Usually the communicator would delete messages after they’ve been there for a couple hours, but I never really paid too close attention to that. I didn’t know what the default for these communicators specifically was, but it could be completely different since the chat was disabled. 

I tossed the communicator onto the sheets of my bed and changed out of my formal clothes. I figured that so long as I was in such a fancy place, I might as well wear some really fancy pajamas. They were the nicest ones I had, and while that didn’t say much, they were still very much comfortable.

The day would end there, and tomorrow would start when I woke up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first map layout for the story. It will be updated appropriately. The map will not update every time the story updates, but it will be updated as new information is obtained.

Good luck and be wary.


	3. Chapter 3

Light was sometimes the difference between life and death, but that would never cover up just how irritating it was in the morning. I could feel the sun bearing against my eyelids and I was forced to wake up from my amazingly comfortable sea of sheets. I groaned a long groan and fumbled out of bed, the blanket that was covering me started spilling onto the floor.

My eyes squinted over to the window that had woken me up. The garden didn’t look as nice in the daytime and the red flowers… lilies?... stood out way too much. The landscaping was nice, but the concrete wall and random flowers ruined it. I could just see over the wall from where I was and the only thing outside was a seemingly endless expanse of forest.

“Man, this place seems so isolated…” I didn’t feel like lingering on it though, so I just turned to ready myself for the day and check the communicator. Sure enough, all of the notifications from last night were cleared from the screen. I turned it off and went into the bathroom to freshen up and change, though not before tossing the communicator to the side to be picked up later.

I took a look at myself in the mirror and snickered a bit at my terrible case of bedhead. Normally it was brushed, though it had a tendency to fluff up during the day so I liked to add just a little gel to it so that I didn’t end up looking like a pom-pom as soon as a tiny gust of wind brushed by. Right as I was about to wash my face, I yawned a brief yawn and I got a glimpse of my sharper teeth. I recalled for a moment the looks I used to get before I joined the hermits, and gave a tiny, dry chuckle at the inside joke I had with myself. I cleared the thoughts from my mind with a splash of cold water.

My suit found itself on my body for the second time now and by then I was finally completely awake. I rolled my shoulders back and shook the tiny bit of tension in my neck out before leaving my room and seeing what the manor looked like in the daytime.

It was so bright that it almost hurt my eyes, but my mood was starting to lift and the rays of light shining through the giant windows and onto the chandelier made me crack a smile anyway. The halls were starting to warm up and the red carpets made the warm-toned wood that lined the walkway look almost cozy if it weren’t for the sheer scale of the place. I walked over to the railing to look down into the lobby and I was glad for a moment that I wasn’t scared of heights.

“Hey, Tango! You look like you got up on the right side of bed!” I averted my gaze from the glossy floor down below and looked to my right. Impulse was standing in the doorway of his room and he was wearing his dressy outfit from yesterday, though the shirt wasn’t buttoned at the very top. I didn’t blame him, he looked like he was uncomfortable earlier, and he’s so used to just wearing a T-shirt that wearing something so restricting was probably making him nervous. I turned my body to face him and he closed his door behind him to walk towards me.

“Yes indeed, I sure did. I do hope Zed woke up on the right side of the bed too! I’ve seen him wake up on the wrong side of the bed and lemme tell ya, it’s not a happy time.” Impulse chuckled and was about to respond, but I heard a voice from behind Impulse.

“Well then, I think you’ll be glad to know that I did, in fact, wake up on the right side of the bed this morning.” Zedaph came up from the other side of the hall and straightened his vest. He was about as awake as me and looked like he was ready to take on the world.

“I’m actually quite excited to see if anyone else is coming. I think I might need those survival tips a bit sooner rather than later.”

“Ooh, everyone’s looking lively this morning.” Mumbo emerged from his room and looked just as cheery as the rest of us. He was still wearing his clean suit, though he looked like he slept well.

“Yeah, and same goes to you. Did you sleep better than normal?” Impulse asked. Mambo nodded.

“Yeah… I’ve been working through nights so I’m honestly quite chipper myself. It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten a good night’s sleep. Though it wasn’t for very long, I slept very well.”

“How are you all so awake right now?” False came up from downstairs looking drowsy and Cub was behind her, not quite as expressive, but still quiet enough that I could tell he was sleepy and not at full energy. They were both wearing their formal outfits, though Cub had less accessories and False had put on some boots. I decided to cheer them up a bit. Of course, I would do so by messing with them.

“What can I say? The morning has a lot to bring!” I answered, smiling the biggest smile I could and making sure I looked at least three times as energetic as I felt, mostly just so I could confuse everyone who wasn’t a morning person.

“I agree, and as for this morning, it’s brought us a bit of knowledge.” Wels came up the same staircase that False and Cub had and Doc was right beside him. Neither looked quite energetic, but they didn’t really look sleepy either. Doc looked more thoughtful than anything while Wels looked eager to share whatever he’d learned.

“Knowledge?” I heard Grian’s voice from behind Mumbo, and he sounded like he’d just fallen out of bed, but when I got a quick glimpse of him, he looked like he normally did and still wore his formal outfit, but he looked a bit grumpier and his eyes drooped. He and Mumbo seemed to be in the same boat in that they’d work a lot of nights, but I get the sense that Grian wasn’t a morning person anyway.

“Yes. We’re still the only ones here. Us four,” Doc gestured to himself, Cub, False, and Wels,

“all searched the place at dawn and couldn’t find anyone.”

“Nobody else showed up?” Stress came out from her room and was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, though she was in formal dress. She let out a tiny yawn, but kept her eyes slightly open to keep eye-contact with Doc and Cub. Cub shook his head and explained.

“Nope. It’s just us here. So unless someone came here early in the night while we were sleeping and left right after, then we’re the only ones here.”

“Wouldn’t we have heard our communicators go off though?” Stress asked. She took out her own device and clicked around the settings.

“Oh, the sound is off…” I watched her turn up the volume on the communicator, and most of us did the same, though I saw that Stress had hers turned all the way up.

“Do you really like the notifications that loud?” I heard Zedaph ask. Stress huffed.

“I can’t hear that well, okay? I just like to be safe.” We all laughed a bit at the conversation and put our communicators away again. It was False that interrupted us all.

“We found something else too. Well, sort of. An exhibit is missing.” That caught my attention. I turned to False and raised my brow, silently requesting that she elaborate.

“I spent a lot of time downstairs last night looking at the exhibits. There was a sword in one of the cases, but it’s gone now.”

“Oh, I think I remember seeing that! I saw it with Zed, Impulse, Cub, and X.” I offered, remembering the shimmering sword I saw in the glass case. I also recalled the bears, but put the feeling out of my mind pretty quick. Xisuma was quick to lead us away from them, which I personally appreciated. He was more of a leader than he knew, if I was being completely honest. Sure, he was somewhat timid and was adamant about us not having a leader, but he had the right qualities. I remembered the many times he became flustered when we brought it up and told him to take charge. He was a good admin. Though… on that topic…

I paused my thoughts to quickly scan the group, realizing that someone wasn’t there yet.

“Actually, speaking of that, where’s X?”

“Sleeping still?” Stress suggested.

“But he’s usually the first one up out of all of us. He’s basically the early bird of the server.” Cub interjected. We hummed in agreement. This was strange for Xisuma in particular.

“Perhaps we should check on him? You know, make sure everything’s okay?” Stress asked us. We all agreed and Doc took the lead to Xisuma’s room.

“Let’s just make sure we knock first.” Mumbo said, trailing behind us. Doc hummed an agreement and slowed as he approached the door. He held up his real arm and knocked firmly on the door. He waited and we all listened to the door for a moment before he called into the room through the closed door.

“Hey, X. You awake?” Nothing.

“It’s morning you know.” Still nothing.

“We’ve got some stuff to do, so you need to hurry up.” Stress called from behind Doc, peeking under his still outstretched arm. Still nothing.

“X, if you don’t answer, we’re going to open your door, okay?” We waited even longer that time, but there was still no answer. Doc sighed and grasped the doorknob, glad to find it unlocked.

“We’re coming in.” He opened the door slowly and the room was only lit up by the light of the window. I squinted as something reflected the sunlight right into my eyes, and I had to move out of the way in order to see what it was.

The sword that had gone missing from the exhibit was sticking out of the far wall and slashes were decorating the fancy room. Doc suddenly charged in, along with everyone else, though I was pushed to the back of the crowd. All at once, everyone halted when they got to the other end of the room. I shoved my way to the front, and when I saw why they’d stopped, my body shivered involuntarily.

Nobody moved. Especially not the body. A body. There was an actual body; one that wouldn’t respawn. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Why did it have to be like this? I get that this was a survival seminar, but this is taking things way too far… I genuinely hoped that this was some kind of sick joke. Maybe Xisuma wanted to play a bad joke on us? But… that wasn’t like him. When was the last time someone died and didn’t respawn? It seemed like forever ago. And even then, their corpse wasn’t left behind. Even though it started to seem impossible that anyone could die and not wake up, it was easy to tell by the way the body was slumped against the wall with an inverted spine and a dent in the drywall that it was true.

Xisuma was dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now why would someone disturb the peace like that?


	4. Chapter 4

Act 2: The Traitor

Stress went forward first to actually approach Xisuma.

"U-ummm, hey Xisu-" she cut herself off by flinching her hand back when she touched his upper arm. 

"He's… cold…." She mumbled. Once she'd said it, it was like a switch being flipped. Everyone in the room went ballistic, and the air was filled with shouts of disgust to general noises of fear and panic. I may or may not have fallen somewhere in between those two categories. It was Doc that cut through the noise with a booming voice.

"Everyone, QUIET!" The room obeyed surprisingly quickly.

"Good. Now. We need to calm down and figure out what exactly has happened here." He was so tense that calming down was a lot more difficult than I would have liked. I spoke up anyway.

"Well… we came here for a seminar, went to bed, and when we woke up, Xisuma was…. dead." More silence. It made the room even more uncomfortable so I kept talking.

"We… we know that normally, we don't see any gore from dead players…. or their corpse. So this must be, a… umm…" 

"Modded world?" Mumbo offered, his voice quivering slightly.

"Yeah, that." I couldn't focus. My voice seemed to be acting on its own.

"But that would mean that the world doesn't go by the normal rules. So… that means Xisuma could really be-"

"Tango." Doc raised his voice and looked at me sternly.

"We need to focus on getting out of here. This place is obviously not for us."

"But, we can't input anything to our communicators." I pointed out. Doc somehow started to get even more tense.

"Tango. I know. But we still need to try SOMETHING." He was practically growling at me.

"We. Can't. AFFORD. To STAY IN A PLACE LIKE THIS." He wasn't even looking at me, rather his gaze was fixed on Xisuma's corpse.

"If you hadn't said that we should come here, THEN WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS SITUATION. SO BE PRODUCTIVE, TANGO."

"Doc, that's enough." Cub interjected, noticing the expression on our friend's face. To anyone who didn't know him well, it would look like complete, unbridled fury. But we knew better. He was scared. Worried, concerned, protective, all the things we knew Doc to be. We never held it against him before, and we wouldn't now either.

He was right though. Xisuma had asked me first if we should attend this event, and I didn't even think about what might happen if we logged into a shifty place.

I had to get my bearings. I sucked in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, closing my eyes and clearing my head. I would help us get out of here, even if I had to die myself. I let out the breath and let the tension out of my body. My eyes looked into Doc's who was now realizing what he'd said to me.

"You're right. We may not have a way out right now, so I think our only hope is to find out how this happened." I felt a resolve in me and hoped that I would be able to solve this mystery in a decent amount of time.

"I'm going to have everyone split into groups and go into separate rooms. Someone can stay with me in here and we'll be each other's alibi. I'll call the groups in here one by one for questioning and we'll go from there."

"We're suspecting each other?" False sounded like she felt bad about the idea, and I agreed with her, but this was a serious situation and I couldn't leave out a possibility. I made sure she knew as much.

"Yeah. But believe me, I don't think any of us did this, not on purpose at least. Someone may have joined the world in the middle of the night and did this, but we need to be safe." I could tell everyone still looked apprehensive, but they all complied anyway.

Impulse stayed with me and offered to help out. I was honestly grateful that he in particular had volunteered to stick around. Zedaph was looking too panicked to be of any help and I wanted to be absolutely sure that I would be able to focus. Zedaph had gone with Stress and Grian over to Stress's room to wait for their summons while Doc and Mumbo went silently to Doc's room. False, Wels, and Cub stuck around with me and Impulse.

I wanted to ask what everyone saw before I started snooping around the room so that I might know what to look for.

False was up first.

"So, I'm not looking for anything specifically, so I just want to know all that you can remember from last night, after everyone chose their rooms." She was nervous and it showed plainly on her face, so I wanted this to be as casual as it could be. We were both in Xisuma's bathroom, while Impulse, Cub, and Wels were outside of his room. 

"Well, once the exhibit rooms were empty, I was in there for a really long time. I wanted to see what everything said. Grian showed up at one point and I talked with him about one of the exhibits, but he left pretty quickly to go with Stress and Zedaph? I think? I think I heard a couple thuds once it had gotten dark, but I thought they were spiders or something so I just ignored it and fell asleep right after. That's also when I noticed that a sword from the exhibits was missing."

"When did you hear the thuds?"

"Once downstairs in the exhibit room closer to the back, and one more time when I was in my room, but I don't know where it came from. Oh yeah, and right as I was about to fall asleep, I think I heard Xisuma's door open."

"Is that all?"

"I think so…" I nodded and told her to tell Cub to come in when she got out of the room. Cub came in, considerably calmer. I kept trying to be as casual as possible, and being in a bathroom definitely helped out on that front.

"So I guess you want to know what I heard last night?" I nodded at Cub's question.

"Well I took a quick look around the place but I went back to my room early. I climbed onto the roof by the gutter and sat there for a while. I remember seeing Wels, Mumbo, and Doc, go inside. I was out there for about an hour after I saw everyone's lights go off."

"Did anyone see you up there?" 

"I don't think so."

"Did you see or hear anything suspicious?"

"No, not that I can remember."

"Did you see any mobs?" 

"No, not in or outside of that wall."

"Alright. Can you tell Wels to come in when you go out?"

"Of course." Cub exited the bathroom silently. Wels followed close behind. He didn't look nervous, rather, he had a solemn air about him that didn't actually show on his face. He launched right into his story as soon as he sat down.

"This is all I can remember: I was alone for most of the night, but I was outside for most of it too. I was looking at the flowers and the gazebo, but I didn't actually talk with anyone. I saw Doc and Mumbo walking around and followed them inside."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Okay. Bring Impulse in if you can." Wels nodded and walked out, his movements quick and spry, despite his obvious low mood. 

Impulse was next. Luckily, this meeting was a lot less awkward.

"I wanted to eat something before bed, so I went to the kitchen to get something. There's not much by the way, mostly just bread, carrots, and tea. Anyway, once I was finished, I went out of the kitchen and saw Doc and Mumbo coming inside with Wels behind them. I walked with them and we all went into our rooms."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"Nope."

"Did you hear anything?"

"Nope."

"Okay. Let's bring in the next group then." Impulse nodded and soon came back with Doc and Mumbo. Mumbo was up first. He was fidgety, but he kept his composure enough to tell a coherent story.

"Well, I was outside with Doc once our rooms were chosen and I spent some time with him looking around the gardens. Admittedly, I was a bit too focused on the lighting so I didn't spot much. Wels joined us at the end and Impulse joined us when we went inside. I did see False though and I watched Impulse go inside his room."

"What was False doing."

"Looking at a painting I believe. She didn't notice us."

"Did you see her do anything else?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Okay. Go ahead and tell Doc to come in then."

"Alright…" poor Mumbo looked nervous as ever as he closed the bathroom door with noticable caution. Doc came in looking somewhat guilty, but he didn't bother talking about it and just launched into his explanation.

"I was with Mumbo outside. I was looking at the wall mostly. That thing looks solid and it's way too high to climb. As for who I saw, Wels followed us in and we met up with Impulse. I saw Mumbo and Impulse go into their rooms."

"Did you notice anything strange?"

"Wels was spending a lot of time at the gazebo, but I guess that's not too strange."

"Did you hear anything weird?"

"No." I wanted to laugh a little at Doc's bluntness, but I remembered the seriousness of the situation and stopped myself.

"Okay. Go ahead and tell Impulse to get the next group." Doc nodded and stalked out of the room without saying anything. Zedaph came in next, visibly distressed. I let myself calm down from Doc's questioning and made sure to look more casual.

"I was walking around just about everywhere with Stress and Grian. We looked at a bunch of things, but not too much happened."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"Ummmm, well Grian lagged behind for a bit to talk with False."

"Did you see Grian or Stress go into their rooms?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Okay, go ahead and tell Stress to come in."

"Alright. Good luck, Tango. We believe in you." Zedaph offered me the encouragement and a small smile before exiting the bathroom. I really appreciated his efforts. It was reassuring. Stress came in and offered me a smile as well, and it was nice to see. I tried to be casual with her too; she was too nice to be stern with.

"I was with Grian and Zedaph after we chose our rooms. We looked around a lot of the place and saw a lot of cool stuff. I walked with Zedaph and Grian to their rooms, but I ended up going into mine second."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"I saw False looking at the exhibits in the back room when we were going upstairs."

"Did you see or hear Grian or Zedaph go in their rooms?"

"Sadly, not Grian, but I did see Zedaph go into his."

"Okay, you can tell Grian to come in next then."

"Okay. Good luck, Tango! You've got this!" Stress gave me a small squeeze before going out to get Grian. Grian came in casually, his eyes looking around the bathroom. He hardly looked nervous, but he did seem a bit disgruntled.

"I was with Stress and Zedaph for most of the night after everyone else chose their rooms. I talked with False about that sword we saw stuck in the wall. Well, it wasn't in the wall when we were talking about it. I caught up with Stress and Zedaph pretty quickly though. I walked with Zedaph and Stress to our rooms too."

"Did you see them go in their rooms?"

"Yes, both of them."

"Did you see anything else?"

"No, nothing."

"Okay. Let's go outside then." Grian followed me outside and I waved Impulse in while Grian went to join Stress and Zedaph. Impulse looked at me, concerned. I guess my stress was showing on my face.

"You good, man?"

"Yeah. We've got a crime scene to inspect." I wanted to get this over with. Impulse nodded and we got to looking.

It was still uncomfortable to look at Xisuma's corpse, but I had to suck it up and solve this mystery. 

Xisuma was slumped face down by the window, a sizable dent was in the wall. The sword was stuck in the wall, but it wasn't near Xisuma's body. Rather, it was by his dresser. Xisuma himself wasn't wearing his normal armor, nor was he wearing his helmet. His helmet lay on his bed like he'd placed it there. The slashes on the furniture only went as far as the place where the sword was stuck in the wall.

First off, it was safe to say that the cause of death was head trauma and not the sword. The thumps that False heard last night were probably the sword being stuck in the wall and Xisuma's head being slammed against the back of his room.

"So, if the sword and the killing blow were what False heard, and everyone was in bed before then, then literally anyone could have done this… which means…"

"We have no lead." Impulse finished my thought. Darnit. I guess I'd have to tell everyone else about it all we've found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why there were so many slashes?


	5. Chapter 5

“We have no lead!?” Mumbo was panicking, and while I didn’t blame him, it really wasn’t helping our situation.

“Well, we do have something…” Doc spoke up and I was immediately curious. What could he have figured out? Well, it turns out that it wasn’t something we hadn’t already thought of. The only issue is that we had absolutely no proof that this was the case, and I had deliberately not told them since the last thing we needed right now was unneeded suspicion. I couldn’t stop him of course, since I wasn’t able to see into the future, but given our situation, I would’ve loved it if I could. Doc turned toward Cub.

“You’re in the other room next to X. You didn’t hear anything and I think it’s pretty convenient that you were on the roof and nobody saw you.” Cub looked slightly hurt, but it was only something that flashed in his eyes for a moment.

“I’ve told the truth, I promise you.”

“But… not to shift blame or anything, wouldn’t it be easy to spot you in particular on the roof at night?” Zedaph piped up.

“Yeah, we would’ve seen you up there since you saw us. It’s pretty convenient that you went to your room early.”

“But what about the death message?”

“It could’ve gone off and we wouldn’t have noticed. They were all silenced, remember?”

“But then couldn’t it have been any of us?”

“Not to point fingers, but Cub was also looking around the museum.”

“We all were!”

“But HE’S the most suspicious!” All of their voices dissolved into a mess of shaky syllables and garbled accusations. What was I supposed to do? I didn’t want to add to the mess by arguing, but I haven’t seen them like this before and had no idea how to handle it… 

“Okay! Hold on, guys. Please. There’s still a possibility that someone logged in while we were sleeping, right?” Stress was somewhat desperate to calm everyone down and her voice showed it, but it still worked. I could tell that she’d be a backbone for the group. I thanked her in my head before speaking up.

“Yeah. We can’t turn on each other. Especially not now. We’ve known each other for years and we need to focus on finding out what’s going on. Logically.”

“I agree.” I heard Impulse from beside me. I felt some tension release that I didn’t know I was holding. Support was great and getting through this without team ZIT would’ve probably been a lot harder. Impulse backed me up, looking calm as ever.

“We need to not blame each other. If this turns into a mess of accusations… then I think our chance of getting out of here would get a lot… smaller. We’re friends. We need to trust in each other and keep calm. We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again, okay?” The group looked like they’d calmed down a bit, and good thing too. On the other hand though, now we needed to be on edge. Or… on guard, rather.

“Okay, if anyone thinks of anything, then please let me and Impulse know, or anyone else. Stay in groups too. Try… try to not be alone, okay? We’ll figure this out.” I think I tried and failed to be reassuring, but they all listened nyway.

“Before we go…” Doc spoke up, interrupting the dispersing of the group.

“I think we should start sleeping in shifts. So that we can keep an eye on the nighttime. If someone logs in, then we can find them and interrogate them.” That was an idea I liked.

“Yes, let’s do that! Okay, we’ll do it in pairs. Doc and Mumbo, you’re a group, okay?” Both of them nodded. I looked at everyone else.

“Cub and Grian, you’re a group, False and Zedaph are a group, Wels and Stress are a group, and Impulse, you’re with me. Can a group volunteer to sleep now and look out during the night?” I assigned the groups by what order they were standing, but I considered it fate that I ended up with one of the members of team ZIT. Doc raised his hand and Mumbo raised his as well when he saw Doc volunteer.

“Okay, Doc and Mumbo will spend the night awake. When you guys are finished with your shift, then get False and Zedaph. After them is Wels and Stress, and finally Impulse and me. Is everyone okay with that?” The hermits nodded and dispersed, Doc and Mumbo went to their room and False agreed with Zedaph to walk around for a bit before going to sleep.

We all finally dispersed, and some went outside while others went to explore the museum rooms. I stood there for a moment, not quite sure what to do. I didn’t want to think about what’s been happening, but since I’d taken up the role as a sort of detective, I guess I had to. I thought for a bit, wondering what I could possibly do. What even was there? The only thing it looked like we could do was wait. 

Wait for what though? A way out? An answer? Another death…? That. I stopped myself at that thought. I didn’t want another death to be the only reason we got out of this mess. I blinked a couple times, bringing me back into reality. I looked to Impulse, but I wasn’t expecting him to ask me a question that I hadn’t yet considered.

“So… what do we do with, uh… Xisuma?” I nearly choked. What would we do with him? I ignored the nature of that sentence and forced a straight face.

“Well, I don’t know if there’ll be decay, but we should lock his room and close his vents, just in case.” Impulse nodded.

“Let’s let the others know.” The first people we saw while on our way to tell everyone what would happen were Cub and Grian. They were just near the base of the stairs and were talking in hushed voices. I didn’t want to interrupt, but it was best that they knew.

“Cub? Grian?” they stopped abruptly and turned to face me. Both of them looked serious and stone-faced, but I saw the concern in their eyes. I guess they were anticipating the worst news from me. Is that what I am now? The bearer of bad news?

“We’re going to lock his room and close his vents, okay?” They caught on immediately and Cub looked like he was about to say something before glancing at Grian. Grian spoke up instead.

“We saw some things in the kitchen cabinets. I think they’re meant to hold doors shut, but they only work from the inside. You might be better off attaching something noisy to the door to keep it from being opened.”

“The doors don’t lock normally?” Both Grian and Cub shook their heads.

“Okay… but what would we attach to the door?” Impulse asked, genuinely curious. Grian gave Cub a look, but Cub didn’t move. After a couple seconds, Grian sighed and whispered to Cub.

“You know it’s for the best. Just show them.” Without much of a word, Cub turned around and picked up a small box, about the size of half a shoe box and opened it. It was a ring with several ribbons tied to it, and each ribbon had a small bell dangling from it. It was indeed loud when Cub held it up to us.

“Grian got me this once we split up. There’s more in a box in the kitchen. I think they were decorations for something.” I nodded, but Impulse asked another question.

“Why’d he get it for you?”

“I wanted to help him out. I know they don’t have bad intentions, but I saw how they all looked at Cub. The bells mean that people should be able to hear him if he carries them around.” Grian explained. I nodded, but I felt bad. I remembered the argument from only a handful of minutes prior and instantly felt for Cub. He liked to mess with us a lot and while he put himself in a slightly more suspicious position last night, he looks too concerned to be the culprit.

“Okay. Thanks guys. We’ll put some bells on the door and tell the other hermits about it.” Both Grian and Cub nodded and we entered the kitchen next. False and Zedaph were there. They didn’t talk, but False gave me a look that said she didn’t want to hear bad news right now. I guess I really am the bearer of bad news.

“Hey, guys. I thought you might want to know our plan. We’re going to put some bells on his door so that it won’t get opened as much and we’re going to close his vents, okay?” They both nodded and looked away from us. We quickly grabbed some bells from the back cabinets and elected to move on to the next person.

Wels and Stress were outside, Stress was looking at the flowers while Wels talked mindlessly about abstract topics that were barely related to one another. Wels saw me first and greeted us both.

“Hey there, Tango. Impulse. What brings you here?” He looked solemn. Stress looked up from her flowers and gave me a smile, though I could tell she was nervous for what I had to say.

“We just wanted to let you guys know that we’ll be putting some bells on his door so that we can at least hear it be opened and we’re going to close his vents.” Both Stress and Wels nodded.

“Are you… okay with that? Like are you two sure you can handle that on your own?” Stress asked, standing up straight to meet my eyes better. I nodded.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

“Okay… let us know if you need anything.” Me and Impulse nodded before we went to Mumbo’s room where we saw Doc and Mumbo enter earlier. Thankfully, if they were asleep already, we didn’t have to go in. Impulse had found a notepad in his own room and started keeping it in his pocket. Once we slid the note under the door, we decided to go and take care of Xisuma’s room.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take a moment to actually enter the room. I know I was just in there, but it felt like if I went in, all of the emotions I’d set aside for later would come rushing back. Impulse looked worried when he spoke to me.

“Do you want me to do it? I can if you want.” I shook my head.

“No. But… you don’t mind if we do it together, right?”

“Of course.” More silence. That seemed to have become a theme recently.

“Do you think he’s… still there? Like, is he just fine and waiting for us to get out so he can bring us back to the hermitcraft world?” I asked. I was only sort of asking Impulse the question. I mostly just asked it to ask it. No other reason. I didn’t even really expect an answer. I still got one, but I would’ve been okay if Impulse just hadn’t said anything. I still appreciated it though.

“I think so. At the very least, I hope so.” I nodded and opened the door. It didn’t smell like a dead body, which was nice, but it was still hard to ignore that the room was in shambles. I quickly closed the vents on the walls and ceiling before I went out with Impulse who’d already put the bells on the doorknob. I made sure I kept my eyes where I knew the body wasn’t. I shut the door and heard the jingle of the bells echo through the main hall.

They were loud, I’ll give them that. They jingled at even the slightest movement. Poor Cub had to walk around with those annoying bells clipped to his belt. I know they were meant to be decorations, but they seemed more like a mark of death not that they'd gotten a new purpose...

I shook the thought from my head quickly. I didn’t want to think about the room hiding my friend’s corpse. 

“Hey, Tango?” I hear Zedaph’s voice and whirl around in surprise to face him.

“Oh, hey Zed. Did you need something?” I asked. Zedaph cracked a smile at me.

“I just wanted to offer a bit of encouragement. You’ll find the truth. I’m sure of it.” Impulse agreed with a nod.

“Exactly. We’ll help you out as much as we can. We’re going to find out who did this. We’ll protect each other. I’ll make sure you two are safe.” I smiled at Impulse, glad that he was so composed.

“Thanks. I’ll make sure to return the favor. It’s us three still together, so we should make sure that everyone else is feeling safe.”

“Don’t forget to look out for yourself too though.” Zedaph pointed out with a smile.

“Of course, but if people start getting hurt…” I didn’t finish my sentence, but I was glad that Impulse and Zedaph put their hand on my shoulder and their arm around me respectively.

“We’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen then.” Impulse said, a bright smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“Yeah.”

“I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to ask you all a question. If you don’t mind that is…” I heard False speak up from the stairs. She had one foot on the second floor and the other was still resting on the step right below it. We all shuffled ourselves to face her and I nodded at her to ask her question.

“So, if we want to make sure we don’t have anyone coming into our rooms, how would we do that? The doors don’t lock as far as I can tell…” I remembered what Grian had told me earlier about the things he and Cub found that were meant to hold doors shut.

“I think we can use something from inside the kitchen cabinets, but they only work from the inside.”

“Okay, I’ll grab some real quick and bring enough for everyone.” False said before leaving back down the stairs. What she brought back looked like metal rods that I hadn’t seen before.

“I… think these are it? It had pictures on the box, but they weren’t very clear. I think they’re meant to be propped up on the closed door.” False explained. We each tried it out and it surprisingly seemed to work really well. We made sure to drop one off in each room, but we left the one for Mumbo’s room outside so we wouldn’t have to wake anyone.

Once we’d done that, we all split up again, but I ended up outside with Wels and Stress. We ended up sitting in silence, though it was a comfortable one. The grass felt nice now that we’d given up on the formal clothing and put on our regular clothes. After all, it was clear that the seminar was either not what we thought it was, or a hoax. Either way, we wouldn’t need our formal clothes.

“Hey guys, do you want to know what kind of flower this is? It’s really out of place, but I recognize it.” Stress suddenly celled out to me and Wels who wasn’t wearing his armor, rather, he was just wearing a very plain long sleeve white shirt.

“I remember Cub saying they were lilies. I don’t remember the name though. Glory? Gloria? Glowa?”

“Gloriosa. They’re pretty, huh?” Wels and I agreed.

“I’ll bet I know something Cub doesn’t though.” Stress said. I was suddenly much more curious about the flower. Stress kneeled down and tilted one of the red blooms toward her.

“They’re used as a medicine in some places, but you have to be really careful. The line between a curing dose and an overdose is really fine, and sometimes the two overlap.”

“Scary…” I said, my eyes fixed on the bright petals.

“Yeah, but lucky for us, they’re fine to touch and look at.”

“That’s good. They’re pretty. I think the person who planted them could’ve done a better job though.” Wels quipped. Stress just laughed a laugh that told us she agreed, but didn’t want to outright say it.

“We should probably go inside soon. Mumbo and Doc will be waking up soon to take the shift and False and Zedaph should already be in bed.” Wels said. Stress agreed and we all went inside together. I went in my room and made sure the thing keeping my door shut was secure and I got ready for bed.

The day would end there, and tomorrow would start when I hopefully woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why Wels is outside all the time?


	6. Chapter 6

Act 3: Tightrope

I woke up to a frantic banging on my door. It sounded like someone was trying to get my attention, but judging by how much force they were putting into that knock of theirs, it could really only be one person. I took down the locking device and flung the door open. Lo and behold, Doc was there looking like he'd just seen a ghost. Without a word, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of my room. For a solid fifteen seconds, we stood there in complete silence as Doc listened for… whatever he was listening for. After that, he turned to his side and started talking.

"Mumbo, stay here and keep everyone else inside. Note everything." I just noticed Mumbo there too, looking pale but he nodded at Doc's command anyway.

"Hey what's going-" 

"I'll explain later but you need to follow me." Doc hissed back in an almost whisper. Not that I had a choice as he practically dragged me down the stairs and out the back door. I was struggling not to trip, but Doc was going too fast. As soon as we were outside, the bottom edges of my pajama pants started to collect some of the dew on the grass and grass started sticking to my bare feet. We had only gotten halfway across the lawn in the direction of the fountain when we heard a shout from behind us. It was Mumbo.

"Doc! I'm sorry but I couldn't keep everyone-" he was interrupted by Wels barreling through the door and pushing past him. Luckily, Doc grabbed him before he could get past us.

"Wels, stop running."

"No, you don't understand! I saw-" I guess tonight was the night of interruptions since even more hermits came through that one door and practically trampled Mumbo.

"Everyone, stop!" Doc shouted. I saw him scan the crowd and I think he noticed at the same time as I did that not everyone was present. Who was missing? I did a head count before anyone could speak up again. Three people are missing.

"Guys, I saw it in my window, it's in the fountain!" Wels sounded desperate. I suddenly got a bad feeling. 

"I got woken up by the notification on my communicator." Stress said. Doc and Mumbo were watching the communicators too. And Wels said he'd seen something in the fountain… so that would mean…

"Doc?" My voice wavered a bit and Doc looked me in the eye.

"What did the communicator say?" Everyone suddenly froze. They went rigid and their eyes would look anywhere but me. They weren't telling me. I forced my wrist out of Doc's grip and sprinted towards the fountain, ignoring the shouts of protest as I approached the structure.

I stopped short as soon as I saw the fountain. It was turned off and the water was still.

Aside from the vague shape of a person gliding eerily and slowly along the circle of the pool of water. I couldn't tell who it was, but I was close enough to tell that they were long gone. I turned away from it and saw all of my friends looking at me, heavy concern I'm their eyes.

"You guys know, right? Who? Who is it?" My voice was shaking, and I don't think I even wanted to know who it was at that point, but I knew I needed the knowledge. Apparently the hermits were also not sure if I should know.

"Just… tell me. Please. At the very least, save me the trouble of finding out by looking at their face." I pleaded with the group. It was Stress who stepped forward, her communicator in hand. She gave me a look that every hermit knew. It was the look of pure concern and support. The "we're all here for you" look. Normally the look would be one of the most comforting things imaginable, knowing that the friends who've become family to you were there to support you in whatever way they could. But this time, all that look told me was that whatever was on Stress's communicator, I wouldn't like. I nodded anyway.

Stress took her communicator in one hand and turned it around to show me the screen. When I read the text, I felt my blood run cold for the first time ever. My stomach leaped into my throat and I felt like I choked on my own tongue. I barely noticed Doc let go of Wels and Wels coming to stand by me. In any other circumstance, the text wouldn't matter much, but now. Now it mattered so much more than it ever would as long as I could still breathe.

"ImpulseSV drowned"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder who's missing?


	7. Chapter 7

Act 4: Waterlogged

My mind was so focused on that message that it was hard to think about anything else. My eyes burned and it felt like there was something stuck in the back of my throat. Impulse was dead. How… why…? Why him of all people? I know that sounds bad, but he was the one supporting me. Zedaph was trying, I know, but he wasn’t as grounded as Impulse. And now I had no idea if he’d even be able to come with us if we escaped. What was I going to do?

“Tango. Tango, I’m going to need you to look at me, okay?” My eyes flicked up, and I looked Stress in the eye. She was still there…? Actually, all of the hermits were. All except for…

“Shh, just keep looking at me. Okay? Here, hold this. Do you know what kind of flower this is?” Stress placed one of the out-of-place crimson flowers in my hand.

“I told you, remember? It’s a gloriosa lily. Pretty, right?” I suppose so, but didn’t she say they were potentially lethal? They were dangerous, and so was the sword and the walls and the fountain, and-

“Tango, I need you to tell me something.” Stress spoke sternly and her voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Tell me about your first family.” I couldn’t talk for some reason. All I could muster was a wet squeak from the back of my throat.

“Here, I’ll start. My first family was really big. I lived with a lot of siblings. Did you have siblings?” I nodded.

“Tell me about them.”

“I have… three brothers.”

“What are their names?”

“Waltz, Flamen… and Alto.”

“What were they like?”

“They…” I tried to picture them, but all I could see was that damned death message.

“I’ll tell you more about my family, okay? I have a lot of siblings, and they were all really unique. There was Focus, Love, Dour, Passion, Intrigue, Bitter, Guilt, and Doubt. We all lived together in a really big castle. Did you live with your brothers?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Where did you live?”

“It… was a tower. In the Nether.”

“What would you do with them?”

“I didn’t do much…” 

“What are some details? I would spend most of my time outside talking with giants. They were really nice. The fairies there would teach me how to grow gardens and I would bring the biggest flowers I could grow to the giants. Guilt would always tell me that I should stay inside and take care of myself. I liked talking with the giants though, even if they weren't used to people smaller than them."

"... I would go out a lot too. My brothers are all older than me, so they had all of the responsibility in the tower. Waltz is the oldest. Alto is after him, then Flamen, then me."

"What responsibilities do they have?"

"They're the royalty of that world."

"I see. And that's why you were able to come to Hermitcraft, right?"

"Yeah…" Actually, it had occurred to me just then that Stress already knew this about me. I blinked a few times and looked at her more directly than I had been. She was smiling a soft smile.

"Feel better?" Oh. She was trying to get me to focus on something else. I took a deep, shaky breath and nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Do you want some more time? The others are willing to give you all the time you need." I looked around and noticed that everyone else had left us right there and gone around the corner. I could hear them whisper among themselves. I guess she sent them off at some point.

"No, I'm okay. Let's just… get this over with." I didn't want this investigation to go on for any longer than it had to. I went closer to the corner and saw the group there, waiting patiently.

"Sorry guys. Let's get this over with." Nobody responded, and I asked the question I hadn't figured out yet due to my… moment of weakness.

"Who isn't here?" Doc answered my question quickly.

"Two people. Cub and Grian." Darnit. That would mean Cub is looking even more suspicious.

"Someone needs to go and get them."

"I can go." Zedaph volunteered. Stress wordlessly followed him and I decided to finally take a closer look at the fountain while they were gone.

I was nervous still, but I knew I had to face this. For now, I'd just try to convince myself that he'd respawn once all of this was over. He'd come back. This was all temporary. I just… had to keep telling myself that.

The fountain was turned off and he was floating facedown in the water. Interestingly enough, the rim of the fountain wasn't wet anywhere and it didn't look like water had gotten out of the foundation. But what I did see on the rim was a small notebook with something scribbled on it. I genuinely did not want to know what was written on it, but I couldn't stop myself from picking it up. My stomach twisted when I saw what was written on it.

"He was much too 'IMPULSEive' lol" I couldn't recognize the handwriting, but the other pages of the notebook contained Impulse's handwriting and his notes on various things. It was Impulse's notebook. It wasn't wet either so they had to have taken it from him before he drowned. Did they knock him out before they threw him in the fountain?

“Hey, Tango? We’re back.” I heard Stress from the other side of the fountain and she was followed by Zed, Cub, and Grian. I could tell the exact second Cub saw the body, because his eyes widened and his entire body seemed to flinch. It wasn’t the same with Grian since he just looked grim rather than startled. I wondered for a moment if he wasn’t surprised that this happened again.

“Okay, can you four come over here?” I know it’s a tactic to make a guilty person look at their crime so that they seem more guilty, but I felt slightly bad when I saw all four hesitate. They still came over nonetheless and I was suddenly glad that it wasn’t me being interrogated.

“What do each of you remember?” Zedaph spoke up first.

“I was asleep until I heard yelling from the halls. I went outside of my room to see what it was and I ended up chasing Wels and False down the stairs.” I nodded and looked to Zedaph’s left where Stress was. She started speaking when I eyed her.

“I was woken up by my communicator, but before I could check it, I heard footsteps from outside of my room. They stopped for a moment before I heard them get heavier and Wels started yelling about seeing something in his window. I was able to see my communicator then so I got out of my room to follow Wels as quickly as I could.”

“... I was asleep…” Cub offered all it seemed he could.

“He was, I heard him snoring through the door when we went to go wake him up.” Stress piped up.

“But… how do we know he wasn’t faking it?” Zedaph suddenly looked scared, as if the thought had just occurred to him.

“No. No accusations. We’re going by only evidence here.” Grian finally said something, though it looked like he was hesitant to say it. I still agreed with him and Zedaph immediately apologized. Once that was concluded I looked to Cub’s left.

“Grian?”

“I was asleep too. I think it’s because I couldn’t hear anyone from where my room is…” I couldn’t help but agree. While it was possible that Grian was involved, it was very unlikely. Stress doesn’t have an alibi which really hurts me, but she’ll have to stay on the suspect list for now. As for Cub, he doesn’t seem like he’s lying either. I’ve heard that guy snore and it’s easy to tell if he’s asleep or not. So unless he’s just suddenly good at acting, I think he really was telling the truth. Zedaph’s situation was like Stress’s, but it didn’t feel any better.

“Okay, can you guys bring some others over here?” They all nodded and went over to the rest of the group that was still in my view but far enough away that they couldn’t hear what we were saying and I couldn’t hear them. I stayed facing away from the fountain, determined to keep my composure. Doc and Mumbo came over next. They had very interesting accounts. Doc went first.

“We were awake since the sun went down. We didn’t hear anything until our communicators went off. We saw the death message and the only place I could think of that had water was the fountain. Your room was the closest so we decided to wake you up. I heard a door close from behind me before I started knocking on your door, but I couldn’t tell where it was other than that behind me. When I looked behind me, I didn’t see anything out of order so I just woke you up.”

“Okay, and Mumbo?”

“It was exactly the same for me, but I don’t actually remember hearing a door shut. I just noticed that Doc had stopped for a moment. I was about to close my door behind us, but I could see Grian’s door and it didn’t move. I heard Doc stop moving and looked over to see what he was doing, but he was knocking on your door before I could ask.”

“Anything else from you two?”

“Umm, I’m not sure how useful it is, but when Doc left me inside to keep everyone asleep, Wels started yelling about seeing… something outside of his window and I think he woke everyone up. I didn’t see who was chasing after us though.”

“Okay, if that’s it can you get Wels and False?” They agreed and the requested pair eventually made their way over. Wels didn’t look like he was doing well, and False didn’t look much better. I could predict why, but we had more pressing matters at that specific moment.

“I woke up from my communicator and when I got up to check it, I saw something from my window. It took me a second to make out what it was, but when I realized what it was, I ran out of the room trying to get people to wake up. I’m… sorry about that by the way… I freaked out.” Wels looked so dejected, but he didn’t look interested in talking about how he felt. I guess he wanted this to be over with as soon as possible. Unfortunately, since he was awake and the first one to know about the body other than Doc and Mumbo (who have solid alibis), he was still very much on the suspect list. False went next.

“I woke up from my communicator like Wels did, but it took me longer to get up. I think the only reason I was able to be completely aware of everything so soon after I woke up was because I heard Wels yelling. I chased him and Mumbo when I got out of my room.” False looked fidgety as she told her side. I still had to put her on the suspect list since she didn’t have an alibi. Before I could tell them that we were going back to the rest of the group, said group could suddenly be heard from far away. I looked past Wels and False to see the whole group caught in what looked like a shouting match. 

All directed at Cub.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder who closed the door?  
> Also, I'm sorry I'm late. Fun fact: College is killing me right now


	8. Chapter 8

I could barely hear myself think the closer I got to the hermits. They were all talking over each other and Cub looked like he was ready to run out of there. I didn’t blame him since I’d honestly never even seen the hermits this on edge. Among all of the yelling, I heard accusations, saying that Cub has been in the perfect place each time, that if he really was innocent, he’d say more in his defense, that he wasn’t doing enough to earn their trust. I don’t know who it was, but they told Cub that he should spend the night with another hermit so they could watch him. Even if the idea was a good one, we had to keep our heads.

“Will you PLEASE quiet down! I can’t hear myself THINK!” I yelled over the others, and my voice cracked a bit. I could feel my throat burn and it occurred to me that this server didn’t have the same rules as our home server. I sucked in the chilling night air to cool my lungs. Luckily, the hermits quieted down and moved their attention away from Cub.

“Okay. Unfortunately, nobody else logged in last night, which means that one of us really is responsible. Doc heard a door close from behind him which was probably the killer, so out of all of us, four have alibis. Mumbo, Doc, Grian, and me. As for everyone else…” I hated this so much. As soon as we got out of here, I was going to apologize to everyone for having to suspect them. I was going to give them all whatever gifts and prizes I could think of and I’d make sure to help them with whatever project they needed for however long they wanted me to. But for now, this was how it had to be.

“...Everyone else is fair game.” So that leaves False, Zedaph, Cub, Wels, and Stress. Terrific. 

“How do we know who did it?” Zedaph asked somewhat timidly. This part was even worse.

“...We don’t. There’s no way we can know. Only four people have alibis. I think whoever did this knocked Impulse out first before… you know. That would mean they wouldn’t be wet, it would take some time before he actually died, and any one of us could have gone back to our rooms just in time for Doc to hear our door close…” Even now… I’m still the bringer of bad news. Nobody said anything, and one by one, with Wels leading Cub to his own room to keep an eye on him, they all left. There was nothing to do. What could we have done? There was hardly any evidence other than that note.

The note… 

Wait. I forgot to tell them about the note! But by the time I remembered, they had all left, Zedaph being the last one as his eyes lingered on the fountain. He looked like he wanted to say something, but it looked like he was finally starting to grasp what’s happened to our mutual best friend. I heard him swallow thickly before he lumbered near me to pull me into a very quick but also shaky hug. I think he did that to comfort me, but it was like he had to handle me as gently as he could or else I’d break.

Once he’d left, I looked at the note again, trying to decipher what its purpose was. I didn’t know, and to make matters worse, I knew it was Impulse’s which meant that I couldn’t trace the notebook to a single room with a missing notebook.

There was something I had to do before I went to bed though and I wanted to do it while it was still dark. Maybe it would make it easier if I couldn’t see properly. I made it a point to make sure that all of the hermits knew what I was going to do, so that they knew they could trust me. If they couldn’t trust the detective of the group, then who would they trust? 

When I told them what I was going to do, I just got silent nods from each of them, followed by the door closing gently and the sound of them putting the locking device into place. Of course, Cub’s room was empty now and I saw him by the window in Wels’s room, though the curtains were drawn shut. The only people who gave me a different response was Grian, the last hermit I told, and Stress who gave me a small pink flower she’d gotten from the garden. She didn’t say anything, but her small gift and smile was enough to give me the resolve to do this. As for Grian, he was the only one to say anything.

“Do you want me to do it for you?”

“No… it’s okay. I have to make myself useful somehow.”

“... Well at least let me help. It’s not an easy thing to do, you know. I’ll help you with the carrying. I’ve had to do it before with a close friend of mine, and it was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Emotional weight makes it that much heavier, you know.” I thought about it, and eventually agreed. I didn’t want to be alone right now, but everyone else seemed like they did.

“Okay. Thanks, Grian.”

“No problem. I’ll grab a towel.” He left his door open to grab a towel from his bathroom and I got a look into his room. He wasn’t kidding when he said his room was way smaller than ours. I couldn’t help but wonder why that was, but Grian had gotten the towels and shut the door before I could ask him what he thought about it. We didn’t say much as we went outside, both of us still barefoot.

When we got to the fountain, I helped Grian lay out a towel on the grass and he put the other three he’d gotten to the side. He rolled up the legs of his pajama pants and I followed suit.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? You really don’t look well…” Grian asked. I nodded, just hoping we could get this over with as quickly as possible. We both stepped into the fountain and positioned ourselves on the opposite ends of the floating corpse. Grian turned it over and grabbed it by the shoulders. I held the legs and the water made my pajama shirt stick to my skin. I could feel one of the legs of my pants starting to unroll and get closer to dipping in the water.

We lifted the body out of the fountain and I was suddenly glad that Grian was the one who had to look at the face rather than me. He was so… cold.

The body was placed lengthwise on the towel and Grian quickly grabbed the stack of towels he brought with him. We draped one over the body and tucked it around so that it was bundled everywhere but the head. Grian had apparently brought a hand towel and he draped it over the face. Thankfully.

We took the same position as earlier to pick up the body and prepare to carry it inside. It wasn’t a fun thing to do and I did my best to think more about the paintings on the walls than what I was doing right then. Of course, I’d forget what the paintings were even of, as soon as the task was finished. Grian was the one to open Impulse’s door and we gently placed the body onto the bed. I closed the vents as quickly as I could and got out of that room as soon as time would allow.

“Okay. That’s the hard part, all done and over with. Let’s go to the kitchen.” Grian gave me a sympathetic smile and led me downstairs without waiting for a response. The bells were in the same place and Grian made me carry the bells to the room, commenting on just how loud they were. I put them on the doorknob and Grian led me over to my room.

“Okay, I may have lied before. That wasn’t the hard part. Sleeping is the hard part. Do you want me to stick with you?” He asked. I closed my eyes for a second and shifted uncomfortably in my pajamas that were wet with the chilly water from the fountain.

“No… no I’m fine. Thanks G.”

“Of course. And let me know if you need anything, okay? If you can’t sleep, then you can keep an eye on the communicator until the sun rises. We only have a few hours anyway, but try to get some sleep. It’s worse if you don’t.” I nod and thank him before retreating into my room, listening as I hear the footsteps walk, pause for just a moment, and then start right back up again as Grian went back to his room.

Another day will pass for all of us.

It has to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why Grian's room is so small?


	9. Chapter 9

Act 5: Struggle

Getting up was… hard. Probably the hardest it's ever been. There was suddenly a lot less that I felt like I could look forward to. What was there to look forward to?

Maybe… chatting with the others? But everyone was constantly walking on eggshells. Looking at the flowers? Maybe. Maybe I'd just do that and try to ignore how badly they were arranged. I didn't bother putting on my vest or styling my hair like I normally did. What's one more change in my routine? There were more important things anyway. Just as I was about to open my door, I heard a soft knock.

"Tango? Are you awake?" It was Stress. I slowly swung the door open for her and she stood there with Wels, False, and Grian behind her. They all looked exhausted.

"Can we come in?" I nodded and let them into my room. We all took a seat in various places, with False, Stress, and Wels sitting on the couch while Grian and I sat on the floor. Not that we couldn't fit on the couch, but sometimes the floor just seemed more appealing. The carpet was soft too, so that was a plus. As Stress sat down, I noticed the paper bag she was holding. She must have noticed me looking at it because she gave me a smile before reaching in and pulling out a bottle of what looked like milk and a small, round container.

"We made you something. A little sugar can help brighten up any day." She handed me the milk and container, and I noticed the others eyeing me with smiles in their eyes. I opened the container and was momentarily stunned by what I saw. It was a carefully made breakfast divided into thirds. One was filled with yogurt, another some granola, and the last one was filled with small triangles of what looked like honeydew, all drizzled in a thin layer of honey and carefully arranged so that they wouldn't mix. In the middle was a circle of thinly cut apple slices perfectly arranged in the shape of a flower and a single cherry sat in the very center of it all. I looked up at them all and they smiled back at me, looking proud.

"It was Stress's idea. We know we weren't there for you like we should've been last night, so we wanted to try and at least say sorry." Wels said. I looked back down at the breakfast that had so much care put into it and couldn't help but smile a bit. I guess… this was something I could look forward to. Even if the rest of today ended up terrible, if only for this little gesture, I'm glad I got up this morning.

"Do you… like it?" False asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. She looked worried, along with the others. Oops, I guess I left them hanging, huh?

"Yeah. Yeah, I do. Thanks guys, it really means a lot." They all smiled at me again and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to face Grian who was holding out a spoon for me. I took it and decided to take a mental picture of the food before I started eating. As I ate, Stress reached into the bag again and took out a small dish of honeydew and apples cut into cubes which was shared among them by each of them taking a toothpick and using it to take a cube from the dish, content smiles all around. It was nice to forget about things for a while. It really was so nice.

By the time we were done, I finally realized how late it was. The events of last night had kept us up and made the morning late. I guess that's why they had time to make the breakfast. And as much as I appreciated it, it didn't get rid of the problem.

"Hey, Stress?"

"Hm?"

"Is… it okay if we talk for a little?"

"Of course. Do you want to talk alone?" I nodded. With that and without questioning anything, Wels, False, and Grian left the room, supportive smiles on their faces. Once the door closed, Stress came down to the floor with me. It was clear she wouldn't say anything until I spoke up. My thoughts ramped up suddenly and my mind flashed back to last night. And the day before. Two people… I know it hasn't even been that long but…

"I miss them." I think that might've been the quietest my voice has ever been.

"Me too."

"Do you… think they'll come back?"

"Hm… yes, I think so. They're too stubborn to not."

"Yeah. Good point." I couldn't help my voice cracking as I spoke.

"Stress?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I… have a hug?"

"Of course." Stress gave the best hugs. I was a lot taller than her, but there was less of a height difference when we were sitting down. I was able to bury my face in her jacket and I let her run her fingers through my slightly unruly hair. We stayed like that until I stopped sniffling and when I pulled away, I laughed and apologized for getting her jacket slightly damp and she just laughed it off.

"If you need me, you're always welcome, okay Tango?" 

"Okay. Thanks, Stress."

"Of course." I closed the door behind her and listened to her walk off. Of course, I didn't miss the tiniest sniffle before I heard her door close.

It occurred to me after Stress left that if I was like this, then maybe Zedaph would need someone to talk to as well. And so, I found myself in front of his door which was surprisingly not blocked from opening. I knocked and told him I was coming in after not getting a response.

The room was dark and all I saw was Zedaph sitting by the window, gazing into the yard.

"Hey, Zed." Nothing.

"You uh, you good?" 

"..."

"Did you… wanna talk about it?"

"..."

"I can… stay here with you if you want."

"..."

"Do you want some time alone?"

"..." He nodded, but only slightly. If I had blinked right then, I was sure I would've missed it.

"Okay. Well, if you need me, call, okay? I'm here for you." Another nod, this one just as subtle as the first one. I decided to just leave him be. 

I stood in the hall, alone. It was way too quiet. I took a glance outside and saw that the sun had only just made it to noon, judging by the light on the trees and the shadows through the windows. Even though it had started late, I got the feeling that today was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why Cub doesn't try to talk more with the others?


	10. Chapter 10

If the latter part of the day was to be long, then I figured I might as well be social and check up on everyone. It was already warm outside since the sun was past its peak. Just as I was about to close the door behind me to walk around outside, I heard a voice from inside that I hadn't heard coming.

"Hey Tango. Mind if I come with you?" It was Wels. He wasn't wearing his armor which made his footsteps surprisingly quiet. I smiled at him, realizing that he was probably wanting to keep me from being alone.

"Yeah sure." I held the door for him and he stepped outside with me. Despite how messy his two-toned hair always was, it still somehow had an almost inhuman glimmer to it that reflected the sun easily in the afternoon light. I was able to see his features a lot better now without his helmet which meant that I was able to notice how subtly not-human Wels looked. I would forget that he wasn't human sometimes but I guess that was a testament to just how often he wore his armor. Always ready.

He walked with me around the garden and we spotted Mumbo pacing along the wall. He looked distraught.

"Hey, Mumbo! Whatcha up to?" I tried to sound relaxed. He looked up and widened his eyes slightly as if he hadn't noticed we were there.

"Oh… well I was just trying to see if there was any way to get past this wall… of course I can't quite say it's going very well. I've been thinking and… ahh I just can't come up with anything." 

"Oh, do you want us to help? I'd at least like it if you could spend some time with another hermit." Wels offered. Mumbo shook his head, but looked like he considered it for a moment.

"Nah, I just want to think for a tad longer. Hope you don't mind. I'll go inside with everyone else in a moment." Mumbo concluded his thought with a distant smile. I knew that was the smile he gave when he wanted to be as polite as possible while his mind was still on the task at hand. I nodded.

"Okay, but don't spend too long out here alone." I couldn't help how serious I sounded and Mumbo snapped completely out of his thoughts for a moment at my change in tone and I think I saw at least three different emotions cross his face.

"... Of course. I'll be in momentarily."

"Good. Let us know who you'll be with, okay?" Wels requested. Mumbo nodded and Wels and I turned to go back inside, mostly because I really didn't feel like making my way to the fountain. Mumbo wasn't too far behind, only a handful of paces. We had slowed down to glance for what was probably the tenth time at the paintings once we'd gone inside and Mumbo retreated to his room. Wels and I suddenly looked up when we heard a voice calling from the second floor.

"Hey Tango! Wels! Can I speak to you for a moment?" It was Grian. He looked pretty cheerful for some reason.

"Yeah sure! Come down here!" I called back up at him. He obliged and slid down the railing of the stairs, eventually bounding his way over to us.

"What'd you want to tell us?" Wels asked. Grian smiled a bit, but his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I wanted to offer you something. Nothing shifty, don't worry. I'm not up to any mischief." He looked me straight in the eyes like he does when he wants you to listen and only listen. He just had that kind of gaze. His voice took a different time too, but not in a way I could really describe.

"I want to offer my help. I know this is a really tense situation and I don't think you should have to act as the lone detective here. It's not fair to you, and I don't care what Doc says about you not contributing. Last night went too far. Also, I want to personally make sure that no false accusations make their way into the head of our lead detective." He was talking about Cub. He was vouching for him since the beginning. That could have its own risks though. I didn't doubt Grian himself, but I doubted his judgement sometimes. Was he really right about Cub being innocent? Did he have evidence or was he going off of a gut feeling? You could never tell with Grian.

"I'll… think about it." Grian smiled like he'd won me over and gave a curt nod before practically bouncing back up to his room. 

Speaking of Cub though, I spotted his coat through the open door of one of the exhibit rooms. Fals was with him too and I overheard what they were saying.

"- think it's just… really suspicious." False was saying. There was silence.

"Does that mean you're guilty?"

"No."

"Then talk to me! You have to have something to defend yourself! Unless…" she stopped there and Cub didn't say anything. I heard False sigh and I noticed as she left that she was dragging Doc with her as well who was more quiet than I'd seen in a long time. Neither of them paid any mind to me or Wels and simply went upstairs. I approached Cub, but he saw me coming and held up a hand.

"I know. Don't worry. I guess this is what I get from trying to play the villain so often. I don't want to cast any more suspicion though, so I'll just leave you two be. I'll keep my distance." Cub had a neutral look pasted on his face. I said the only thing that came to mind.

"But… I don't think I can help unless everyone here tries to help…" Cub put his hand down once I'd said that and after a moment, his neutral expression melted into the softest smile I'd ever seen him give me. The only other time I'd seen that smile was when he was comforting Scar. His eyes smiled too and their cool grey made his face look somehow serene. He looked more relatable when I was able to look right in his eyes like this.

It was that look that convinced me. He couldn't be guilty. There was no way. That was the Cub that I'd known for years that would get up to all kinds of mischief and fun with his best friend. As he smiled just like that, he only said one thing before disappearing into the exhibit room.

"Don't worry. I'll do my part to make sure we find the truth." Wels and I stood alone for a moment before Wels led me back upstairs, probably not sure what else to do. I stood outside my door with Wels when Zedaph of all people approached me.

"Hey, sorry to bother you guys, but is it alright if I speak with Tango for a bit?" He asked. Wels nodded and wordlessly went downstairs, presumably to see what Cub was doing. I was left alone with Zedaph.

"Hey. I just… wanted to say sorry for earlier. I know I kind of ignored you. It's just… been really hard. I think I was just now able to process what's happening. If you ever need something, then call, okay? I'll be here." Oh, so that's what this was about. I felt a little relieved. At least he was okay.

"Yeah man, I get it. It's fine. I'll say the same to you, so if you ever just feel like you need someone to talk to, I'm always here." Zed smiled a relieved smile and his posture became more lax.

"Phew. I'm glad you're not angry or anything. And thanks. I might take you up on that later." He seemed so calm. I guess he's still coming to his senses after what happened. I don't blame him. I closed the door after waving and made sure it was blocked shut so that I could spend the rest of the day in my room. My head hurt a little and I wanted to nap away the conflict.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why Doc is so quiet?


	11. Chapter 11

Act 6: Hellfire

I was laying facedown on my bed, not even close to being asleep when I heard a knock on my door and some shuffling. I knew it was morning, but the sun hadn’t yet risen. The only sign of morning was the slightest hint of a smoky blue that only graced one side of the sky. I got up and shuffled towards the door, realizing that I had somehow fallen asleep wrong last night and every time I turned my head to the left my neck would strongly protest. Great. I opened the door to see Stress, Cub, False, and Grian standing outside my door all looking somewhere that wasn’t me. Stress took the lead and started talking.

“Hey Tango. I just wanted to tell you that you should double check the ingredients in the kitchen before you use them, okay?” She turned and gestured to the three behind her who all wore neutral expressions, but they looked paler than normal.

“These three ate something bad for breakfast, and to make it even worse,” She turned around like she was scolding them.

“They all spent the night outside. In the cold! Don’t do that!” They all avoided eye contact. Stress sighed and turned to me.

“Anyway, they’ve got a slight temperature and I was wondering if you had any blankets you could spare.” Oh, so that’s why she was telling me. 

“Yeah, hold on, I’ll check.” I left the door cracked open and searched my room for whatever blankets may have been lying around that I could lend them. I came back with an armful of ivory colored blankets that Stress took from me, gratefully. 

“Thanks, Tango.” She distributed them among the three and told False to take a blanket over to Zedaph’s room. They all nodded wordlessly and I assumed that they’d already been scolded and fretted over by at least Stress, if not Wels and Doc as well. They dispersed silently and went quietly to each of their rooms. Once they were all safely inside their rooms, Stress sighed. And spoke without taking her eyes off of the several doors.

“They apparently got nervous last night. I wish they would’ve fallen asleep somewhere warm together instead of the garden. Zedaph tried to warm them up with a nice breakfast, but I think one of the ingredients went bad so now not only do they all have mild fevers, but they’re nauseous too now.” I could see the worry in her eyes as I peeked around to meet her gaze. She flicked her eyes towards me and gave me a small smile, but said nothing.

“Umm, hey Tango? Stress?” Zedaph spoke from the stairs and I noticed he was gripping the rail and had his other arm held close to his torso.

“Thanks for the blanket, but I’m gonna get some fresh air…” 

“Okay, but make sure you’re not out there for too long, okay?” Stress said. Zedaph nodded and went carefully down the stairs. I guess he wasn’t feeling as bad since he didn’t sleep outside like the others. I sighed without really meaning to and Stress just gave me a look that silently said “Well, what can you do?” after which she started to step away, probably to make sure Zedaph actually went inside eventually. Before she could though, yet another person came up to get our attention. It was Doc.

“Hey, Tango? Is it okay if I talk to you for a bit?” Stress looked at me questioningly and I nodded, opening the door to let Doc in. He stepped closer and Stress excused herself. I closed the door behind Doc and rather than sitting down, we just stood there in the middle of my room, not saying anything. Finally, after avoiding my eyes for a minute or two, Doc spoke up.

“Listen man, I’m… really sorry about what I said at first. You’re doing a lot for us.” That was… unexpected. I shook my head and replied in a slightly quieter voice than I’d meant to.

“Oh no, it’s…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it was fine. In my opinion, it really wasn’t. 

“You don’t have to say it’s fine. That night, when you came to each of our rooms to tell us that you were going to… move him… I wasn’t able to sleep right. It bothered me so much and for some reason I didn’t know why. I’m rambling now, huh? Just… I know it may seem like we’re not here for you right now, but we really are. I’m trying to get better at saying it.” Doc naturally looked intimidating and it still threw me off sometimes, but I knew he was genuine.

“Thanks, Doc.” I looked out the window and saw that the sky was now a pale yellow that would soon morph into blue. Another day. I sighed.

“You’ve been sighing a lot.” Doc pointed out. I gave a short laugh, realizing that he was right.

“I mean, can you blame me?” 

“Hm. I guess not.” We just stood there for a while, watching the sky as the sun rose from the other side of the manor. I would’ve said something, but no words seemed right. So instead, I just kept silent along with Doc as we stared out at the sky. Then suddenly,

“Hey, is that Mumbo?” I followed Doc’s metallic finger and looked out the very edge of my window, though I had to lean in to actually see where he was pointing. Sure enough, I saw Mumbo slumped against the wall of the property, not moving an inch. For a moment, my stomach dropped and before I could act on my initial panic, Doc gripped my shoulder and held his communicator in front of me. No death message. Thank goodness. Even so, I looked over at Doc and we both nodded curtly before sprinting out of my room and making our way to where Mumbo was.

Thankfully he was just asleep. I guess he fell asleep while trying to find a way out. Knowing him, we’d have to make sure he got the rest he needed. He was like a few of us in that manner, but only recently had he adopted such bad habits. Doc picked him up bridal style and carried him to his room. I followed and noticed that Zedaph was just now making his way up the stairs. I guess we’d missed him on the way down, but he looked better now. Some color had returned to his face and he wasn’t as tense as before. I gave him a smile which he returned before continuing to follow Doc to Mumbo’s room.

Doc was a lot stronger and taller than me, which was why he was even able to carry Mumbo like he did, but when he placed Mumbo on his bed, I was the one who thought to feel his forehead. I gave a dissatisfied hum and turned to look at Doc.

“Fever. It’s mild though.” Doc groaned lightly and shook his head.

“Of course he does.” Doc went into Mumbo’s bathroom and came back with a wet washcloth that he placed on Mumbo’s forehead. As he was adjusting the washcloth, I heard a ding from my communicator and my body went cold. I barely remember taking out my communicator, but I do remember the notification that showed on the screen

“Welsknight burned to death”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder what went bad in the kitchen?


	12. Chapter 12

I just couldn't figure it out. There were no fireplaces anywhere, the oven wasn't even on, much less on fire; the manor seemed to be completely fine, no fire anywhere. I was stumped and didn't know where to look for where Wels could be.

"Tango?" Doc's voice shook me out of my stupor. What did he want me to say? 

"Tango, where do you think we should look?"

"I… well…" I suddenly couldn't focus on the actual question and became more and more distracted at how long I was taking to answer it. Doc sighed and clenched his jaw.

"I'll stay with Mumbo for now, but you should get someone to go with you to let the other hermits know."

"Mmh, no need." Doc and I snapped our heads to where we heard Mumbo's quiet voice. He was still looking exhausted, but he'd already started getting up.

"Oh no, you need to stay here and rest." Doc scolded. 

“I’d rather not.” Mumbo’s responses were shorter than normal. I was worried about him, but I was too worried that something bad might happen if any of us were left alone. 

“Just let him come. It might be more dangerous if he’s alone.” Doc still looked conflicted when I said that, but he huffed and relented anyway. I noticed that he was staying close to Mumbo as we exited the room though. I was glad. Mumbo didn’t look well at all.

“Tango, Doc…” I saw Stress come over, worry painted all over her face along with a disheartening bit of confusion. I spoke quickly. I didn’t want to give myself enough time to feel conflicted or hesitant.

“We need to find where everyone is first. Right now we just have, you, me, Doc, and Mumbo. Let’s check on the others.” Stress brought her lips into a fine line like she wanted to say something but kept her mouth shut. She led me over to False’s door fairly quickly. She’d been taking care of the sick hermits so maybe she chose False’s door for a reason. Stress opened the door and we went inside without knocking. False was curled up in her bed with a washcloth covering her forehead. She was asleep.

“She’s the worst out of them. I figured we should check on her before the others, but it looks like she’s finally gone to sleep…” Stress explained. I looked back at False and immediately felt more worried. Sickness was rare among the hermits. Heck, I really can’t remember the last time any of us got actually sick aside from some poison. 

That thought stopped me. Poison? Could it… no. No of course not. I’ll bet they just had some kind of bad meat or a poisonous potato by accident. There’s no way it could have been deliberate. There’s no way.

“Tango.” I heard Doc’s low whisper from behind me and I realized that I’d been spacing out while looking at poor False. I twisted around to look at Doc and he made a “come here” motion with his index finger. I leaned closer and he whispered in my ear.

“She’s been throwing up. I can smell the vomit from the bathroom. She’s flushed it, but I can still smell it.” I knew Doc had a better sense of smell than me, but I, for one, wasn’t too envious of that at that very moment. My eyes flicked back to False and I let out a sigh before turning to Mumbo.

“Mumbo, can you stay here? It’s fine if you fall asleep but I think you should stay and keep an eye on Falsey.” I heard no protest from Mumbo, which made me relieved since he’d gotten slightly paler in just the time that we’ve been standing. Instead, he just sombered over to the couch and sat down, putting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He didn’t move after a few seconds so I waved Stress over and Doc followed as well. We went out of the room and I was greeted by Zedaph who now looked much better, if not for the look of extreme worry that seemed so uncharacteristic of him. It made my chest tighten. I really hated this place.

“Wels, he…” Zed mumbled. I nodded.

“We’re looking for where it could have happened and making sure everyone is still okay. We’re probably going to Cub’s room now since you’re already out here.” I explained. Zedaph nodded and fell to the back of the group as I led us to Cub’s room. I knocked lightly on the door, but received no response. I knocked again, this time louder. Still nothing.

“Cub?” I was getting some serious Deja vu that I really did not appreciate. I had to remind myself that there wasn’t a death message from Cub. I tried the doorknob, but found that the door wouldn’t budge. Locked from the inside.

“Cub! Cub we need to see that you're in there.” Still nothing. Doc reached around me and pounded on the door so hard that I thought the locking mechanism would give way, but it still held strong. I called again.

“Cub!” Finally, we heard the sounds of sheets rustling from inside and I let my jaw unclench as relief flooded me. It took a bit too long for comfort, but eventually, I heard the locking mechanism get taken away and the door swung open to reveal a very out-of-it Cub who’s eyelids were constantly drooping down, only for Cub to force them open again. The poor guy didn’t look as sick as False, but he still looked tired.

“Cub, something’s happened and we need you to come with us. Is that okay?” He nodded and fumbled with the doorknob as he stepped out of the room, his gaze was focusing and unfocusing as he struggled to stay awake. I looked over at Doc who was probably the only one who was both tall and strong enough to catch Cub if he fell, but Zedaph was close to Cub’s other side as we travelled very slowly to Grian’s room. Right when we passed Mumbo’s room, Doc bolted ahead and grabbed my shoulder.

“Wait.” I froze. What was it? I didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. Doc closed his eye and took a long whiff of the air. When I saw his eye open, his expression had turned harsh.

“Smoke.” Smoke? Wait, he could smell smoke!?

“Where?” I asked probably louder than I needed to. The others paid it no mind. Doc took a few paces forward and a few paces back, tilting his head this way and that. He stopped his walk when he had moved in front of me, further down the hallway towards Grian’s room. He turned his head to look me in the eyes and pointed to the end of the hall.

“It’s right-” He was interrupted by Grian’s door suddenly slamming open with force much greater than what Doc had used to pound on Cub’s door. Grian came quite literally tumbling out before falling to all fours. The door opening had let a huge cloud of black smoke billow into the hall. Grian himself was covered head to toe in soot, and the color of his face and clothing were barely visible under the black ash. He was coughing and hacking into the floor, gasping every time only to be interrupted by another hack or gag. We stood in shock for a few precious seconds before Stress rushed forward to help Grian who looked like he was about to give out.

The coughing started to lessen, but he was still dry-heaving when I got my bearings. I left quickly to get to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and not bothering to keep it from spilling as I rushed up the stairs. Doc met me halfway and grabbed the glass from my hand.

“You need to check his room for fire. Go.” He commanded me. I nodded and sprinted ahead of Doc, past the group and into Grian’s room. The smoke wouldn’t be a problem for me. I wasn’t immune to fire by any means, but I could survive in the soot-covered room that was heavily clouded in thick smoke. It was just a part of me that really came in handy when I had to be in the nether. I scanned the room and looked around, kicking up the occasional cloud of ash. Ultimately, though, even after searching the whole room, I found nothing. No fire, no sparks, not even something that looked to be producing the smoke. The room was much smaller than the others, but that meant that there was less to search. Maybe the smoke came in through the vents? But that would mean there’s a huge fire somewhere else in the manor and the other rooms would’ve gotten the same treatment. Not to mention…

I looked up to the ceiling where the vents were. The vents were, for who knows that reason, closed.

I let out a frustrated growl and stalked out of the room, not bothering to dust myself off. Grian was still coughing too much to breathe properly, much less talk, but his eyes were open now rather than screwed shut. I could see streaks on his face where his eyes were obviously watering to get the smoke out and since his eyes were the only thing that weren’t coated in a layer of fine black dust, he looked kind of like an enderman with his purple irises. I looked over to Doc and he bounded over.

“We need to search the rest of this place. I’ll get everyone outside and you need to search for the fire.” I nodded and Doc immediately moved to haul the group out of the mansion. I searched every room I could think of: the museum rooms, the kitchen, dining hall, main lobby, all of our bedrooms, everything. But the only places I saw any sign of fire were Grian’s room, and the small room right next to Impulse’s room which, while they were both absolutely smothered in smoke, showed no signs of anything actually catching fire. 

What on earth…

By the time I’d scoured the whole manor, everyone had been brought outside, even False and Mumbo who were asleep in the grass, along with Cub. Grian had apparently dipped his face in the fountain so now the only clean parts of him were his face and hands, but even they weren’t completely clean. Doc, Zedaph, and Stress were all doing their best to accommodate the needs of the now four sick hermits when they saw me come outside from the back door. They all looked at me with the most hopeful eyes, and I knew that I’d have to be the bearer of bad news yet again.

“Sorry guys. I didn’t see a fire. There’s no fire, and there’s no Wels either.” I saw all of their shoulders droop. I clenched my jaw and felt one of my sharper teeth dig into my inner cheek. Where on earth could Wels be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why only two rooms were covered in smoke?


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Viewer discretion is advised: This chapter contains depictions of illness and dissociation. Please be aware of this before continuing to read. The tags have been updated accordingly.

We sat outside in silence for probably longer than we should’ve, but I really didn’t want to go back inside. The coolness from the outside air was enough to keep me somewhat grounded while Stress was busy making sure the sick ones among us were warm enough to actually rest properly. I could hear Grian wheezing and he’d occasionally launch into a coughing fit if he happened to try and talk or if he just took a breath that was just slightly too big. 

Then came the moment when False had woken up. She looked really out of it still, but she said she felt better. I guess Doc was too focused on getting everyone out because she asked us why we were outside anyway. I told her, but I wouldn’t be able to recall what I said exactly. Things weren’t clear enough in my mind for that. When I finished though, I saw her face immediately pale and she stumbled quickly away, out of the spot we were in. We’d chosen a spot that placed us in the shade of the manor, near the doors and False had scrambled out of our shady spot to a mismatched flower bed. We all just kept sitting there, listening to the retching noises and barely batting an eye. Once she’d calmed down with nothing left in her stomach to vomit up, she fumbled back over to the group and slumped back down into the grass, placing one arm over her eyes. She was back asleep within the minute.

I looked over to see Zedaph beside me, facing the wall and forehead pressed against the stone. I saw that he was slightly more pale and figured that maybe the food was acting up again. Or maybe the stress was a factor. False’s episode probably didn’t help the stomach. 

We all seriously looked pathetic. I’d never seen False so sick, Grian could barely breathe, Zedaph was too focused on keeping his food down, Stress was almost feverishly trying to take care of everyone, Doc was only just barely keeping his head about him, Cub and Mumbo were both sleeping like the dead, and I don’t think the world has ever looked this much like some sort of sick movie screen that I wasn’t even a part of. I really wanted out.

Stress suggested that I go in with Doc to investigate the smoky rooms and Doc agreed that it might be a good idea. I said nothing on the way there and there seemed to be a constant discomfort in my shoulders that wasn’t pain or tightness, just some fort of unidentifiable discomfort with seemingly no source. I’m pretty sure Doc didn’t speak either. 

Once we’d gotten to Grian’s room, we practically turned the room upside-down, looking for--

who knew. I didn’t. We were just looking. It was something to do and leagues better than sitting down, doing nothing but listening to our closest friends struggle for their breath and try to keep down wha little contents were left in their stomachs. Our hands were caked in the dark substance and we went back, not bothering to discuss what we’d found. 

Stress started to offer the idea that we go inside and sleep together for the night.. It was strange, I don’t remember the journey outside either. I agreed with her nonetheless and tried to ignore how the world was starting to look more and more like a slideshow. Time was moving too quickly, but I think I ended up contributing some ideas on where we should all sleep. We chose the room in the very back hall on my side of the manor, tucked in the corner and peacefully vacant.

Time suddenly ground to a nauseating halt when the lights in our shared room turned off. I started noticing everything, the dryness of the air that made the back of my throat feel like paper, the silk of the sheets we’d gethered and how strange it felt on my heavily calloused hands, the residue of sleep in my eyes and the tiny twinges of my muscles as they tensed and twitched with every tickle of the too-light coverings that we all had draped over us. 

Mumbo looked like he hadn’t slept in days and his face was only made that much more pale as he was right in the silvery moonlight cast in from the window. He looked to be in a cold sweat, one eyebrow lower than the other and his clothing had been exchanged for something of similar quality that would breathe much better. I could hear his breathing stutter and see his shivers like he was scared, but showed no signs of actual fear.

Zedaph was still. Completely still. His breath was so slow I almost got worried and he’d clung to his thick brown sweatshirt. He laid there in a dead man’s pose, not having moved in the slightest bit from the time he’d laid down. His arms were straight by his sides and the thin silken blanket was neatly tucked between his arms and his face showed zero signs of stress, save for an incredibly subtle glint of perspiration on his forehead.

False was in the bed, much paler than I’d ever seen her. Her breath was hoarse and shallow and she shifted in her sleep like her muscles were somehow spasming in response to some unknown danger. Her hair was matted and tangled in a way that made her look like she’d spent several days in a swamp and every muscle in her face looked to be tense. Her right hand hovered near her midsection while her left was constantly changing placement. Her face was painted in a glistening sweat that was bound to make her dehydrate after a few measly hours.

Cub was as still as Zedaph was, only ever moving to take in a deeper breath than the others he was sucking in. He was still, but not quiet as he’d occasionally let individual half-syllables escape from his throat. It was all in his breath; he didn’t have anything different about him except for his unstable breath. The only other thing I could observe about his was that after only a few seconds of staring at him, I began to see his eyes dart around under his eyelids, showing only the most subtle of changes in his face.

Stress was slumped over, barely in a position that looked like someone could physically fall asleep in. Her arm had probably lost circulation at this point and her shoulders moved with her audible breath that was only slightly below a snore and thankfully the most rhythmic breath out of everyone in the room. Every now and then, she’d twitch or shift her position so that it looked even marginally more comfortable, but even with the moving, she was completely passed out, not to wake up any time soon.

In a similar state was Doc, but even though it looked like he had fallen asleep without even meaning to, he seemed more comfortable than Stress in her contorted position. He favored his robotic arm to hold his head aloft and I could hear the very, very quiet buzz of his circuits, and every now and then, the most subtle of clicks would sound throughout the room, almost completely overpowered by the desynchronized breath of the hermits. His jaw was loose and hanging open, revealing his threatening teeth. 

Grian was upright but still obviously unconscious, his skin still clouded in soot and his breathing came in crackly, tiny gasps that were so fast that I would’ve been worried if it weren’t for how miniscule each breath was. His shoulders would tense up at seemingly random times and relax just as quickly. It was hard to spot though, under the oversized sweater that he’d insisted on keeping on, even though it was probably ruined from being covered in so much smoke. 

Everything was suddenly so detailed and present, a stark contrast to the rest of the day. All I could do was observe time in what seemed like a fraction of its normal speed and forty times more overwhelming. Even when I jolted upright from my place on the plush carpeted floor, I felt every small gust of air on my skin and I wasn’t able to see the world blur like it normally did when I moved my head that fast. I noticed everything from the slight relaxing of Doc’s hand to False moving her eyebrow a couple of millimeters down. I saw everything, the carpet fibers, the individual hairs on Mumbo’s head, the bit of soot that flaked off of Grian, and I noticed myself too.

I saw my loose clothes and the bits of sweat that started to form on my skin, and suddenly, I saw my hair too, and how messy it was. I could hear my heartbeat get quicker and thump in my ears, but… then it wasn’t my ears? But it somehow still was… I couldn’t move myself and the room was suddenly somewhere else. I could still see it but it wasn’t where I was. Gravity wouldn’t hold me to the face of the earth and sound wasn’t working like it normally did. I saw myself stand up and dart out of the room, out of the manor and to the fountain. What? Why? No, I couldn’t… But even as I shouted and scrambled at myself to stop running, I just kept going and I couldn’t tell why.

Until I tripped. The grass was cold and the dew was colder, the ground was hard and the pebbles were harder. I was gasping and gripping the grass so hard it tore. I could move. I could finally move. But I didn’t. Not for a while. I really didn’t want to go inside, so I stayed for a bit longer.

Then I was back in the room with the others. How, I’d never know. I didn’t want to keep going though, so I lowered myself into my spot on the floor and screwed my eyes shut, ignoring how that world looked like a slideshow yet again. 

If I was lucky, tomorrow wouldn’t be what I was expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd pay attention to everything, not just what Tango outwardly notices.


	14. Chapter 14

I woke up quickly, much to my dismay. I was the first one up, and thanks to last night’s episode, was able to immediately recognize the difference in the room. I immediately scanned everything, from corner to corner but still didn’t see the person I was looking for. Doc must have heard me move because he woke up right after me. When he saw the look I gave him, I could see the blood drain from his face. He scrambled for his communicator. I could’ve sworn that I heard his teeth grind when he saw the notification and I saw the light from the screen go dark as he clutched the device so hard that the technology inside buckled and fizzled. I saw him shove it back in his pocket and the light flicked back on soon enough. He was already leaping into action and waking people up when I took out my own communicator.

“Stressmonster101 was slain running from [#^%*^&]”

I wanted to curse. I didn’t though because I was soon dragged up by my wrist and stumbled with the other hermits out of the room. Instead, I protested.

“Doc, they’re still sick, we can’t force them out of the room!” I saw him pause and he commanded me soon after with the least possible amount of hesitation.

“...Then you watch the door and me. I’ll make sure I stay in your sight.” And that was that. Doc ran off when he said that and I knew there was no arguing. He pushed open doors and windows and cabinets of all kinds, practically turning the manor upside-down. He eventually moved to the backyard, not seeing anything inside. I could watch him from the window and the others just rested, still not conscious enough to process what was happening.

I saw Doc near the shed which was securely locked and I noticed that he paused for a moment. He… couldn’t possibly-

But he did. He ripped open the door, not even breaking the lock but rather making the door splinter so bad that it came open. He ran inside, full of panic. Then he stopped. He stood frozen right in the doorway, but from my angle, I couldn’t see inside. Only for Doc to immediately sprint full speed back into the manor. I feared the worst. When he got back, I’d already opened the door to our shared room. Only when he stopped directly in front of me did I notice he was quivering. Whether it was from adrenaline or fear, I’d never know.

“I… I found her.” His voice was breaking and it sent a chill up my spine. By now, I guess the others had gotten wind of what was going on and were crowding the door behind me, save for False who was being supported by Grian and Cub who was bracing himself against the sofa.

“Wait, can we please get a quick rundown?” I recognized Grian’s voice, but it sounded like the most pained whisper I’d ever heard. Thankfully, it wasn’t me that had to explain this time.

“It’s Stress. She’s dead. I found her in the shed when I saw the notification…” I turned around to see everyone’s reaction and almost immediately regretted it. Mumbo doesn’t even look like he could process words right now he was so out of it, Cub looked about ready to pass out in favor of not dealing with whatever this reality had to offer. I was inclined to join him. Zedaph had completely frozen with his eyes wide in horror and poor False couldn’t keep her composure and had to sprint to the tiny trashcan she’d kept on hand to empty her stomach yet again. I wondered how she still had things to throw up.

Then, the feeling came over me again. The world suddenly felt distant and my body didn’t feel like my own anymore. I was hit by a wave of fear and I don’t think anyone noticed until they saw me stagger back into Doc who was now behind me.

“Tango?” he asked, suddenly distracted from our current predicament. I shouted at myself to look up at him and respond, but I’d just frozen there.

“Tango? What’s wrong?” I saw him start to panic again, but I couldn’t say anything to tell him I was fine. But… was I? If I couldn’t tell him that I was okay, then wouldn’t that make me not okay? Before Doc could say anything again, Grian squeaked out a sentence.

“Ice. Get him some ice.” Zedaph, finally snapped out of his daze and squeezed past Doc and to the kitchen. When he left, Doc asked questions.

“Ice? Why ice? What’s going on?” When Grian responded, I could tell that he was trying his best to not cough, but the scratchiness of his voice had betrayed him.

“Dissociation. The ice it-” he paused to cough and regain his composure, 

“The ice is cold enough to shock his senses-” His voice cracked again and this time he launched into a real coughing fit. He didn’t bother continuing once he’d stopped coughing. I thought about that. Dissociation? Me? I wasn’t sure, but I guess it would make sense. Soon enough, Zedaph came running back with a glass of ice in his hand. He looked to Grian, silently asking what to do and Grian just tapped his own slightly parted lips, not saying anything. It took him a second, but Zedaph eventually took an ice cube and stuck it in my mouth.

Grian wasn’t wrong, it brought me back to my senses and I felt a little less foreign in my own body now. Though, it did take a minute. I just let the ice melt in my mouth as Doc led us all outside. I didn’t want them to comment on what just happened and I made sure they knew that. We had a bigger matter to deal with. I wanted to make it look like I had completely recovered, but I decided to take the glass of ice from Zedaph and made a mental note to recall and remember where the ice machine was in the kitchen. I just followed along, vowing to myself that for now, or until things got less dire, I would keep some ice in my mouth. I ignored how my tongue went slightly numb and continued outside, determined as ever.

The door to the shed had blown closed in the light breeze and just creaked there, cracked open. Doc stopped us in front of the shed and surveyed the crowd.

“I… don’t know if False or Tango should come in here; it’s really not pretty.” I pushed my way forward, hopefully indicating that I wouldn’t stay outside. I had to do something and sitting still was not an option. I tried to concentrate on the ice still in my mouth.

“I’m… not sure if I want to go in…” Zedaph mumbled. I could see the fear in his eyes and he backed away from the shed.

“Okay. If everyone’s okay with it…” Doc swung the door open once False and Zedaph had gone to another part of the yard.

Doc was right. It wasn’t pleasant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Closer and closer. The mystery continues, but my questions end here.


	15. Chapter 15

There was blood everywhere. On the walls, the floor, the shelves… I'd never seen so much gore before. I'd seen twisted joints and limbs pointing the wrong way, but I'd take that over the scene in this shed any day. 

  
To start with, the room was not as spacious as I would've liked and so the upsettingly apparent body was crammed between a massive piece of equipment in the middle of the shed and the side of some shelves with miscellaneous parts stacked on it. There was a workbench that took up most of the far wall near a set of cabinets that I didn't want to open. There were two sets of shelves, one supported the body and the other was slightly cleaner and held paint and buckets of what I think was plaster and spackle.

  
The equipment in the middle of the room was the most eye-catching though. It was huge and intimidating to the point that I knew several people off of the top of my head that would be nervous using it. I think it was meant to cut wood or metal judging by the huge frame, the generator that had been frankensteined into the side of it, and the giant blade that looked rusted in place and much too dull to be safe for use. 

  
I looked behind me to see what everyone was thinking. Maybe it was morbid curiosity or maybe I just wanted to know that I wasn't the only one who felt so horrible. Doc's gaze moved around the room in a way that danced everywhere except for our friend's corpse. Mumbo, in contrast, was staring directly at it, expressionless. I wasn't even sure if he was breathing and it made me worry. Grian's eyes looked like they were tearing up, but he just looked down with a heart wrenching and tight expression. Cub had already walked out of the shed and I could hear his footsteps fade away, along with a shaky sigh. I turned back to the scene, hoping to pick up more details so that I could get out of there.

  
The smell of blood suddenly hit me like a truck and I gagged, nearly choking on my ice. It covered the blade and was long dried, but only coated one part of it. I could see bits of flesh hanging from the teeth of it, just as I had realized that something was off about the body. I couldn't see her face from where I was standing and it looked like everything from her neck up was shrouded in shadow.

  
I was shaking so bad when I went to look at Stress that I had to hand my glass of Ice to Doc who kept his gaze exclusively on the shelves. I didn't dare brace myself against anything as I quivered violently and staggered my way to where Stress was, not bothering to hurry. I couldn't bring myself to risk any blood getting on my hands.

  
Now that I'd gotten closer to her, I saw what'd happened. I could see the bone in the back of her throat. The reason I couldn't see her head was because it had been barely attached to her neck. It was hanging upside-down by a small bit of flesh and skin off the side of her that was facing away from the door. Her eyes were still open and I could see bruising around her collarbone and several punctures around the very unclean slice. 

  
I couldn't do it anymore.

  
I sprinted out of the shed and shoved past Doc and the others, gulping in any air I could that smelled clean. But it still smelled like blood. Everything still smelled like blood oh why, why did everything smell like blood? 

  
It took about twenty minutes, some dry heaving, another ice cube, and the feeling of a hand rubbing circles on my back for me to finally start smelling and seeing the grass. Cub was behind me, looking paler than any person should be, and trying to comfort me while I still trembled on the ground. 

  
I really, really hated this place.

  
I turned back around to see Zedaph dragging Mumbo out of the shed, face still frozen with horror. I wondered if Zedaph had seen the gore and presumed not since he was looking at the floor very intently with no sign of disgust or panic. After that, we all just… sat in the garden, as far away from the shed as we could get. But I also didn't want to be near the fountain so we meandered over to the gazebo, not daring to say a word while being immensely grateful to Doc for shutting the door to the shed for us.

  
We stayed outside for the fresh air and the bright sun. I didn't want to go back inside, but I knew I'd have to eventually.

  
"Tango." I heard Cub from behind me and turned around. He looked worried.

  
"Are you really okay with what you're doing? I know you're trying to be helpful, but I think you may just be hurting yourself…" Cub asked with such sincerity that I couldn't help but second guess myself. I spoke slowly when I responded.

  
"I… I think? I mean even if it is… draining, I have to do something. I can't just leave you all and…" I trailed off, but not because of the conversation topic. No, I spotted something different from how it had been before and it made my mind race, far from any concerns Cub had.

  
I leaned to the side to look past Cub and at the seating of the gazebo.

  
"Tango?" Cub asked, confused. I didn't say anything and instead pointed at the thing I'd spotted. He turned around and followed my finger. I saw his eyebrow quirk for a moment, then his eyes widened as he saw it. The benches under the gazebo were not traditional benches, but rather boxes of wood painted white that would cover the space from the seat to the concrete platform the gazebo sat on.

  
Right where I was pointing, at the base of one of the benches under the gazebo, was a single section of white planks of wood that looked different from all the rest.

  
The edges of the planks were outlined in a faint line of soot that stood out against the pale paint on the wood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "ouch" said the author as life cracked her on the head with way too many problems, promptly leaving her to her own devices, unable to properly function. (Lol sorry I'm dramatic. I just got really sad and stressed and let me tell you, writing about corpses is not a good way to make yourself feel better. I mean I got it done didn't I? Yeah sorry, this is just my excuse for being late on the update)


	16. Chapter 16




	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admin action complete...  
> Continue.  
> (Sorry about that error guys. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you can ignore this)

Act 8: Smokescreen 

Doc was standing over us with his arms folded as soon as we mentioned it. I looked like he was debating whether or not this was really worth investigating. Or maybe he was just debating the best way to actually investigate what we’ve discovered. After all, it really did just look like a regular bench. 

Both me and Cub barely blinked as Doc kneeled down and began running his fingers over the whole thing and even pushing on it once to see if it budged. Lo and behold, a rattling noise was heard from inside the bench, as if it was a closed door he pushed against and what we’d heard was the locked door moving but refusing to open. Probably deciding that the concern of property damage was behind us at this point, Doc curled the tips of his fingers around the wood and yanked it free of its nails.

As well as its hinges. It really was a very decently hidden trap door with a secondary metal trap door underneath it that looked to lead to whatever was underground. 

“Stand back, I’m going to uproot this whole thing.” Doc said, which prompted us to move backwards a handful of paces as Doc tore apart the wooden bench. I wasn’t sure why he felt the need to tear it apart like that until I realized that the metal door was locked from the inside too. I figured that Doc just had to get a better hold on the door to tear it free like he had before. 

And then it was open. Coated in soot and leading to a pitch black tunnel with a single creaky metal ladder leading down into the smoky depths. I knew it was inevitable, but I was reasonably reluctant to go down that ladder. I kept staring down the tunnel and listened to Doc address the group.

“Okay, I’m going down there, and Tango should come with me since he’s not affected by smoke. Does anyone else want to come?”

“I’ll… go. I guess…” I heard Zedaph volunteer, but he sounded as reluctant as I felt. I also heard someone move around a bit and Doc sighed in response.

“Are you sure about that? You’re already pretty messed up, and the air does not look clean enough for you.” Doc asked the mystery person. There was more silence and I could hear Doc grumble a bit.

“Fine, but you need to have something over your face.” The person Doc was speaking to approached my side and we both stood looking down into the hole. It was Grian. Cub stood on my other side and I assumed that was his way of volunteering as well. I looked over at Grian who was still coated in the remnants of our mysterious fire and he looked back at me, cracking the most forced smile I’ve ever seen on a person.

I had an idea. I stepped back from the hole just in case and slipped off my vest. I’d not bothered any sort of clothing change (time was starting to become more and more irrelevant so it didn’t seem needed) and decided that Grian should follow Doc’s advice with some cleaner clothing like my vest. His sweater being held over his face would probably do more harm than good.

We were strong, that’s for sure, so descending down the ladder was a breeze, even with Grian doing so with only one arm, but the air was probably not pleasant for the others. I was fine since smoke and other such air contaminants (save for straight up poison) didn’t irritate my lungs like it did the others. Doc was the first one down and therefore the first one to find a lightswitch. Only two lights came on and they were buzzing and flickering incessantly. Every step we took kicked up more ash and the whole place had been blackened beyond recognition.

Charred objects were lying on the ground and the only recognizable things were sets of shelves and a hallway that was caged off with a chain link fence that reached the ceiling. The door to it was made from the same now blackened wire, and after looking around, it was obvious that the floor was previously carpeted. The shelves were metal and Doc mumbled how he could smell the stink of melted plastic. Probably toxic, but I didn’t bother mentioning it. I knew it wouldn’t deter him.

The shelves themselves were mostly aligned in a neat grid of two different sizes, but it looked like some had been moved around and knocked about. Some were crooked, some were horizontal, and some were even dented a bit and slammed into the corners of the fenced hallway. I helped Doc move them aside so that we could get a better view of the back part of the room and behind all of the shelves was a long box with dirt in it and shattered bulbs hanging from the inside. Glass was surrounding it, but one of the panels of it looked shattered. Shriveled debris was scattered over the dirt.

Grian said something, but his already quiet voice was even more muffled by the clothing he held over his nose and mouth. I furrowed my brow at him and Cub spoke up on his behalf.

“He said it’s an industrial greenhouse. Those types of bulbs help plants grow.” Cub pointed to the shell of some once functional lightbulbs.

“Why would a greenhouse be down here…?” Doc wondered out loud. I couldn’t give him an answer. The owner of this place apparently didn’t have much of an affinity for plants, judging by the garden outside. I just offered him a hesitant shrug.

“Maybe they grew crops here?” Zed offered.

“Maybe, but I think they’d need more soil to grow any kind of food in here.” I said, digging my hand into the admittedly shallow soil trays.

“I think the only thing you’d ever be able to grow in soil this shallow is…” flowers, I thought. I stopped myself. I hated myself for it, but I had to keep any breakthroughs to myself, or risk the actual culprit knowing I’m finding things out.

“Is…” Cub prompted me to continue. I hesitated.

“...I don’t know…” I almost choked on the lie and it would’ve been a real shame if I had. I wouldn’t be able to use the smoke as an excuse.

“Well come on, we should check out that hallway.” Doc intervened and I was immediately glad that he did. Without a word, our group moved to the door which was thankfully not locked since whatever padlock that looked like it would belong to that gate would’ve probably been very hard to remove.

The hallway itself was hardly interesting, but from the looks of it, this place probably caught fire easier since I spotted not only remnants of carpet and carpet glue, but wallpaper and decorations as well. No real furniture though. We did come across some shelves that looked like they’d been dragged there from the outside and with much effort, Doc and I moved shelves out of their hard to lift positions while Zed dragged them out so that they wouldn’t be in our way.

But then, just as I was lifting one of the shelves that seemed to have been toppled over some sort of object, I decided that the object it was on looked a little too different from all of the other things we’d seen in this hallway. 

I dragged the shelf over to Doc, ignoring the horrid screeching noises and trying to ignore the seemingly inexplicable dread building in my stomach.

Though, once I saw what it was exactly, I realized that my dread was completely justified.

It was a corpse. A very shriveled corpse charred beyond recognition. Even so, I knew who it was. It had to be him. His death message explained it all. There must have been some sort of action that caused him to get stuck between two barricades of shelves. The shelves were knocked over on top of him like they were pushed on him. If the shelves themselves had knocked him down, then he would’ve been more tangled up in them. Instead, they were just laying on top. Still, we moved all of the shelves until all that was left was the coal-skinned corpse and the hallway in front of us.

I ended up requesting that we didn’t talk about Wels right now in favor of seeing where the hallway went. Doc seemed apprehensive, but he moved forward with me anyway. The answer to where the hallway lead was a ladder, guarded by more chain-link. As for where the ladder went, it led to a very well hidden trapdoor under the bed of one of the rooms coated in smoke. Not Grian’s, but the room in the near corner of the manor. I couldn’t exit the room since I was just tall enough that squeezing myself under the bed would prove more trouble than it’s worth.

“Maybe we should head back,” Zed offered,

“and get the others in on what we’ve found.”

“Should we… take him with us?” Cub asked, very very unsurely while gesturing to Wels’s form that now resembled more of a wither skeleton than anything else. I paused, waiting for Doc to give the verdict, but he just looked at me. Was this really my call? I guess I was the one to do it every other time, huh? I took a deep breath.

“Yeah, but… let’s tell the others to go to their rooms first.” My voice cracked again. I decided that now was the time for some ice to bring my mind away from the practically disintegrating corpse in my arms. I’d never look at wither skeletons the same way again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Alternate Mode…  
> Concluding "Hard" difficulty...  
> Success.  
> Congratulations, you have now unlocked all essential information. The difficulty of finding the Culprit is now set to "Medium".  
> Accessing Alternate Mode...  
> Loading Bonus Information...  
> Success.  
> You are now ready to begin acquiring information for "Easy" difficulty.  
> Begin Alternate Mode...


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good luck!


	19. Chapter 19

We’d sent everyone back to their rooms. I was alone and not ready at all for what I was tasked with doing. It was my job though… It was my job… I just repeated the phrase in my head and concentrated on the new piece of ice in my mouth and the eyes hesitantly watching me from the second story windows. Wels was still underground since I had to wait until everyone was inside their rooms before I began.

Wels first.

I descended the ladder under the gazebo and picked up the body of my friend again. As I carried him to the inside of the manor, I tried to distract myself with how the rest of the scene had looked at the time. The shelves weren’t that heavy, but they would’ve taken much more effort to move if there was only one person there to do it. What’s more, if the room is covered in smoke and fire, then getting enough oxygen to do anything was improbable. But he’d have to have been underground long enough for the smoke to get to him and for the shelves to be placed around and on him. 

He could have been unconscious… Grian was asleep for long enough that the smoke affected him badly, so maybe if someone had knocked Wels out, then they probably could have set that fire from either one of the entrances and walked away with no trace of smoke or soot anywhere on them. And with Wels not wearing his usual suit of armor, he was probably that much more of a target. 

I finished that thought right as I came to Wels’s room. I opened his door and for the whole process of laying him down on his bed, I didn’t dare break my line of sight of the wall. I’d rather look at the very expensive-looking wallpaper than the image of my friend burnt to a crisp. I closed the vents and shut the door, only to sprint downstairs to grab the bells as well as take a very needed detour to wash my hands that were now covered in ashes.

The bells were hung on yet another door.

But I wasn’t finished yet. I was dreading this one the most. After all, blood is harder to wash away than ash. I grabbed some towels and was very disappointed that all of the towels here were white. I took my haul of towels over to the shed and braced myself.

I just had to get this over with. I stepped inside and bit my lip since I realized I’d forgotten to grab another ice cube. I couldn’t tell if it hurt to bite my lip that hard or not, but it kept me from focusing on the scene in front of me.

Until it didn’t. With my very unwanted and enhanced focus on the murder scene, I was able to spot something I hadn’t before. It was a bloodstained note with more of that scratchy handwriting. Based on the little doodles on the first few pages on the notebook, it was Stress’s. The handwriting that matched that of the note we found on the fountain read:

“She had the wrong priorities. She did. You must know why, right?” 

I shoved the note in my pocket and quickly bunched up the towels around my hands. I just had to get this over with. I wrapped the towel around Stress’s torso and, with my eyes closed until it was done, lifted her head so that it was supported by her neck once again before wrapping it with another towel. I ignored the red stains seeping into the bleach-white fabric. I ignored all I could and practically ran with the corpse all the way to Stress’s room and only slowed down to breathe when I opened her door and carefully placed her body, which was thankfully covered by towels, on her bed and closed the vents in a sudden burst of speed. I ran back down to the kitchen to wash my hands a second time, though I wasn’t even sure if there was any blood on my hands. I didn’t want to risk it, I also grabbed another glass of ice and didn’t bother trying to find where my other glasses had gone. Once I felt clean enough to touch things again, I grabbed the ring of bells and I was finally able to call my job done when the bells were placed on the doorknob. 

I didn’t know what else to do and there was no way I could handle being alone at that moment, so I knocked on the closet door that I knew was occupied. That happened to be Cub’s room. He opened the door after a few seconds and the recognizable shuffling of the door locking mechanism from the other side. Cub still looked tired but at that point, I just wanted to unload on someone. I had about fifteen too many grievances at this point and I was close to just shutting down. 

“Can I… just sit in here? For a little bit?” I asked. Cub didn’t speak and just nodded. He moved out of the way but before I could step inside his room, I heard a door open from across the hall. It was Zedaph. 

“Tango? Are you done?” He asked. I nodded and tried to give him a little smile but I’m pretty sure it came out as more of a grimace. 

“Oh, that’s good.” He looked genuinely relieved. It made sense, after all, that he’d live here with the comfort that the bodies would be out of sight and hopefully out of mind. They were definitely out of my sight, but they flashed to the forefront of my mind every few moments. To be that blissful…

“You found a trapdoor, right? Should we investigate that?” He asked. I nodded without thinking and immediately regretted it. I just wanted a few minutes of rest, but Zed had already come over to where Cub and I were standing and knocked on False’s door while he was at it. The commotion must have been loud enough to rouse everyone else, but I found it more likely that they were listening the whole time. Everyone came out of their rooms (save for Grian who instead came out of the corner room we had all slept in the previous night) and every single one of us had definitely seen better days. At the same time, despite looking pale and weak still, False had regained some of her color and her eyes didn’t look as unfocused as before. Mumbo still looked feverish though. 

“So we’re investigating the trapdoor now?” Doc questioned. I nodded again, now just resolving to treating this like I had the bodies and just getting it over with as soon as possible. I didn’t say a word as I led the group to the room and had Doc help me slide the bed over. I was just tall enough that I wasn’t able to squeeze underneath the bed, but if someone were smaller than me, then they probably would have been able to fit. I surveyed the group quickly and made note of all of the smaller members of the group. Grian, False, and Zedaph looked to be the only ones that weren’t a great deal taller than me. 

“Hey Tango, look.” Zedaph pointed to the ceiling above where the trapdoor was and I squinted my eyes to see what he was pointing at. It just looked like panels that made up the ceiling. I kept looking at it until I heard Doc breathe and “Oh.” and stand so that he was directly under the spot Zedaph was pointing. Doc was very tall, so he was able to reach the panel and push up by lifting himself a bit by the trim that outlined the room. The panel moved upwards and with a bit of effort, Doc was able to push it open. Another trapdoor. I shook my head in disbelief and waved for Doc to climb up to it. 

I followed behind and the others followed me. We came to an attic that was expansive and covered in the same layer of ash as the other rooms were. Not much was there save for some tarps, a very old looking lamp, and two sets of heavy, wooden shelves. That, and another door that was easily spotted because of the gleam of a brass doorknob that was just visible under the ash because of the slivers of light that shone through the windows that were almost completely blocked by the shelves. 

I found myself instinctively moving towards the door that led to a very cramped hallway that was only just wide enough so that I was able to avoid getting any more ash on my clothes. The hall led to an actual stairwell this time and we descended that too. The space was only a small step above a crawl space, but it still allowed for movement. It led to one more door, this one being much shorter and, interestingly enough, unlocked like the previous doors had been.

I pushed it open, and suddenly things made just a little more sense, but opened even more questions. Right in front of me was the smoky interior of Grian’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No words today. Just speculation.


	20. Chapter 20




	21. Chapter 21

I could practically read the words on everyone’s faces as they looked at Grian. “Explain” is what they said and it was pretty obvious that Grian had no idea how to respond. I don’t blame him either. What a terrible thing to be put on the spot for…

“Okay, before we jump to any conclusions-” Grian’s voice sounded terrible and was set at a constant high-pitched whisper and of course he interrupted himself with another coughing fit. He tried to keep talking getting out fragments of sentences like “Just because I-” “happened to get that” “room” “an-” “and I-” “didn’t kno-” “didn’t even know-” Eventually, he just melted into a coughing fit. I ended up being the one to stop him from talking. He looked about ready to keel over but he seemed so unsure of what to do. If he was guilty, then he’d obviously want to defend himself or maybe he’d just want to stall by faking a coughing fit, but I couldn’t see that being the case. Either he was innocent and seriously just having an episode, or he was guilty and had an unexpected talent for replicating or acting out the human gag reflex. One of those sounded more plausible, but no solid evidence presented itself.

The passageway did create a problem though. It made some things that had already happened more plausible, but it also made other things much less clear-cut. But… my mind couldn’t focus on the other deaths. I just couldn’t do it. 

Grian was still coughing and trying to force words out.

“Grian. Grian that’s enough.” I spoke loud enough that my voice could be heard over Grian’s gasps and hacks and he eventually calmed down enough to breathe in small, barely sufficient gasps that wouldn’t make him break down again.

“Come on guys, let’s get out of this room first.” I led the group out and realized that I probably shouldn’t have just continued to investigate with everyone. I couldn’t think anymore. 

“I’m… I’m gonna-” I started to say, but I guess it was too quiet because Mumbo seemed to not hear and spoke up over me.

“What do we do? I’ve… I’ve been looking everywhere outside, trying to get out. The walls are so high… I can’t find anywhere that would let us get out. I’ve been looking and looking, but…” He seemed like he was panicking and I could see his sweat build up. I could hear his voice break to the point it almost rivaled Grian’s broken tone.

“We… we don’t even know why this is happening! We have no clues, no ideas…” 

“Actually, I found something while moving the bodies.” I spoke again without thinking and I wondered where my louder voice was a minute ago when I felt another disconnect coming on. The entire group faced me all at once and I realized that I was already dissociating by the time I was taking the note out of my pocket. I tried to reel myself back in while the rest of them looked at the note.

“This doesn’t help at all. Of course we don’t know why she had the ‘wrong priorities!’, we don’t even know what the right ones are! What… what does this even mean!?” Mumbo was getting more frantic, somehow, and he shoved the note back to me and walked away, only to walk right back to the group, sweat dripping from his face and more pale than I knew was healthy. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, but I began to bite my lip again which brought me back to clarity. With my new clarity, I let my gaze fall on the note, but I wasn’t really looking at it. I instead forced my thoughts over to the past murders. 

In order to get past us while we were sleeping, you’d have to be quiet. We weren’t exactly light sleepers, but most of us weren’t heavy sleepers either. Some of us were unwell too. So… I guess I could narrow it down to who was well enough to actually overpower someone. That would leave me, Doc, Cub, Zed, and maybe Grian if he was able to keep himself from coughing which I had very good reason to doubt. Wels had to have been knocked out and those shelves, while clunky and difficult to move without two people, were still possible to move, given that all of us had considerable strength, save for the few who were weakened due to illness. 

“Tango?” I looked up at Doc who was eyeing me sternly.

“Uh, yeah?” I responded, not sure if I’d somehow missed something. I was just barely managing to keep myself present.

“What do you have to say to that huh? You were the first one up when Stress died.” Oh. Oh no not now. Why choose now of all times to accuse me? I replied as fast as I could so that I could return to focusing.

“Well… I… I don’t know what to- wait no. I have an alibi. For the other murders. Remember Im- Impulse? You woke me up for that.” Yeah, that was plausible. There was no way I could have done that. I was the first person they woke up. 

“I mean… there could be more than one killer.” Mumbo offered in a hoarse whisper. Grian then responded with a sharp gasp and therefore a coughing fit. Doc began yelling and everyone was suddenly in competition to talk over each other. 

“No. No no no no. We… we can’t panic, but- But…” I don’t even know who said that. I could’ve been me for all I know. I bit my lip harder and focused on the stinging of my teeth. 

“Guys, we can’t panic. We have to calm down and give each other the benefit of the doubt.” Cub consoled the group. Then, something happened that I didn’t think I’d ever live to hear. Zedaph began yelling. Very very angrily.

“Oh YOU have no right to lead us! You’re the most suspicious person here along with Tango!” As soon as he said that, everyone else went quiet and I bit my lip harder. I didn’t do it to keep my mind focused, rather, I didn’t know how to react. It hurt way too much coming from him. I yanked my thoughts away from the group again and saw that Mumbo was hardly doing any better. In fact, he was looking worse and was swaying on his feet. Without stopping to think like I had already done probably countless times already since I’d woken up, I grabbed Mumbo by his wrist and dragged him outside. I ignored the deafening silence that the group behind us was radiating. 

I was happy that we were outside, finally, but I realized that no matter where we were, we were in the view of one of the many crime scenes where our friends had died. I dragged Mumbo back into the manor and brought him to the very small front yard to avoid all of the places that reminded me of death. I stopped us in front of the window and Mumbo looked to be glad that he was somewhere he hadn’t seen way too many times. I had us both sit down against the outside wall of the manor in the dirt of a flower bed under one of the windows. I didn’t say anything either. I couldn’t do it.

“Tango?” Mumbo’s voice sounded somewhat clearer so I suspected that we’d been sitting there with our knees drawn up to our chests for some time before he spoke. I just grunted in response.

“Tango, you’re bleeding.” When Mumbo said that, I was pretty confused until I realized exactly why. My teeth had dug into my lip so hard that blood was running down my chin. I saw the little spot of blood it made on my knee where my chin was resting.

“This is gonna be really hard.” I spoke at nearly a whisper to Mumbo who looked like he was finally willing to listen.

“All of our most supportive members are dead. I’ve just been accused. I don’t even know if we can trust each other even a little.” I said, finding a different place on my lip to bite. Mumbo didn’t respond, he just hummed a very quiet hum and rested a clammy hand on my back as we ignored the occasional angry or fearful yells among the arguing group inside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear oh dear. Even more tension and even less trust. How much uncertainty can one group have before they fall apart? Arguably, we may have already passed that point.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Since I update the tags as I write this, I figured I'd include an additional warning:  
> This chapter includes violent imagery of illness and death. If you are uncomfortable with this then please, SKIP THIS CHAPTER. Tango will provide a recap in a later chapter with fewer graphic details. My sincerest apologies for the graphic nature of this, but this information is actually quite necessary to the plot. Many thanks for your understanding.

I fell asleep outside. I’d had enough. It was warm enough that I wasn’t bothered by the slight chill of the outdoors. I know Mumbo had left at some point and I vaguely remember that Doc had come out to check on me.

“Tango? You okay, man?” he asked. I only gave him a halfhearted hum of denial and I heard Doc give a deflated grunt.

“Yeah, sorry. That was kind of a stupid question.” More silence. 

“Well try not to stay out here for too long, okay? We don’t need another sick person.” And as far as I remember, he left after that. 

“Tango?” Then was Zedaph. I had no idea what to say. I genuinely did not want to talk to him. I didn’t think I could take it. So I only offered him silence; even less than I’d given Doc.

“Okay, I get it. You don’t want to talk. Well I can’t force you. I just figured I’d let you know that everyone has gone into their rooms. Except Mumbo and Cub. They’re in the kitchen getting something to drink.” I didn’t respond then either. Zedaph sighed.

“Okay. Well I’ll see you later. I told Doc that I was going to talk to you before going into my room.” And then he left. And then I slept again. 

I could hear things from the inside as I drifted between sleep and a sort of half-awake state. I didn’t bother moving, but I listened to what I could. I heard Mumbo at some point, talking about ways to get over the wall. I also heard Grian muster up enough air to actually call after someone who was presumably running off somewhere else. Maybe it was Mumbo, or even Zed. Who knew. After Grian’s yelling, the only thing I could hear was his coughing.

There was only one conversation I was able to hear the entirety of. Mumbo was sounding worse for wear. Way worse. His voice cracked every few words and even with my less than present mental state and the wall between us, I was able to hear the stress lacing every syllable and the sound of him straining himself probably way past his limit. There were even a handful of sentences that I was pretty sure made no sense in any universe. I still couldn’t bring myself to move, much less mediate, so I just listened to him rant deliriously about ways to escape, ending his tirade with a wheezing pant that sounded worryingly unstable. I couldn’t help but wonder right then if someone had cracked the window open so that they could keep an eye on me. That would explain why I could hear things like that.

That being said, I heard everything crystal clear from my spot in the dirt and if it weren’t for the fog over my mind, I probably would’ve been able to vividly picture what was going on in that room. I heard Mumbo wheezing sporadically, and the wheezing eventually devolved into a choking noise. It sounded like something had crawled into his lungs and his body was desperately trying to force it out. It almost sounded like it had succeeded when I heard vomit hit the floor, but right after, I heard the noise continue and something bigger hit the floor. Probably Mumbo. 

Everyone was shouting over the retching noises and as I listened to the illness and the panic, I realized that I was crying. Fair enough. I felt like I’d never unhear those noises.

It took some time before things went quiet. Or, at least the sounds of a very unwell body went silent. Panic still continued. The wheezing stopped though. It was an abrupt stop and I heard a notification from my communicator.

I didn’t bother checking it. Another one. And another horrible experience for me, foreshadowed by the sudden disconnect I felt from my own body. I was able to watch myself get up from the dirt, not bothering to get any of the soil off of my clothes nor the tears off of my face. I was still scared though. I watched myself walk in the manor and I caught a glimpse of Mumbo lying there, eyes still open, but nothing there would indicate breathing. The vomit was barely there, and was composed mostly of blood and something else that I couldn’t place. 

Doc mentioned smelling flowers on Mumbo’s breath while he was yelling and it had taken me a few seconds to realize that “I” had started to ask questions. Not that I found much, but Doc’s statement reminded me of something and we ended up outside, asking Doc if any of the flowers smelled like what he’d smelled on Mumbo’s breath.

I can’t say I was surprised when he pointed at the red lilies that were scattered in patches that reminded me a little too much of blood. We scoured the place, though we pointedly avoided the center hall as much as we could by going outside whenever we could. By the time I’d managed to get some ice and shock myself into a little bit more of a reasonable state of mind, I heard False say she found something. She’d been sick, but it apparently wasn’t like Mumbo. She’d been getting progressively better. Not that she was in a good state by any means, but she was trying.

False led us to a cabinet in the kitchen where she presented us with an unmarked box. My mind was still fading in and out, so I wasn’t able to catch everything, but I got that she suspected that a sort of tea was made from the flowers. The contents of the box were dried plant matter, and when she gave it a whiff, it managed to choke a gag reflex out of her as well as the statement that she’d smelled this before.

To me, it just smelled like flowers, but Doc was able to tell that the scent belonged to the lilies. Useful. Someone had to have either given whatever poisonous tea that was, or maybe he drank it on his own. I didn’t know, and we couldn’t exactly ask Mumbo.

What to do… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He'll know, and he'll know soon. Perhaps you can figure it out faster though. Time is running out.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: this chapter precedes the big reveal, meaning that most of the important information is all compiled here. That also means that this chapter is basically the ultimate hint. If you want to guess who the guilty is/are, then now is the time. Good luck!

What I did was not much if I was being honest. I stopped talking I think. I didn't even bother to tell anyone where I was going when I lumbered over to my room. I used the locking mechanism as well. I couldn't unsee the corpses and my mind wouldn't rest so long as I was still trying to figure this out. So I left the group again. 

Laying on my bed, I took a deep breath and resolved right then and there not to open my door until I'd figured out what was going on.

And so it began.

First things first: was there more than one killer? Maybe. The answer to that might come later. I'll put a pin in that for now.

Second: is the killer one of us? That I knew for sure, even though I really didn't like the answer. Yes. We were the only ones in this world and we'd kept close eyes on the communicators for messages that would indicate a new arrival. There was no other explanation that I could think of. I double checked my communicator and saw that the list of us hermits hadn't changed since we arrived. Though some names were displayed in a grey font. It was easy to tell why they were greyed out.

What else? Okay, how about… who's on the list of suspects? Everyone alive I suppose. So that's… me, Grian, False, Zedaph, Doc, and Cub. I ignored how short the list was and continued my reasoning. I was obviously not responsible for this, so the list was reduced to five hermits.

Okay, so we have a list. What would the killer have to be like? Strong for one, but none of us were exactly weak. I know that some can better overpower the others though. Builders were often stronger than redstoners so I was pretty safe in terms of suspicion. Not to mention, the shelves that we had to move were hard to move without help. Perhaps a seasoned builder then? 

No, wait. I remember that when Xisuma died first, there was a pretty obvious struggle, even though the killer seemed to have had a weapon and therefore a very big advantage. That could imply less about strength and more about their combat skill. After Xisuma, Impulse was next and there was no sign of struggle then. Not even scratches on skin. He had to have been knocked out. That's probably what the killer did for others as well. 

So that's something, they're avoiding combat. False is probably off the list then. Though there's Stress's… more gruesome murder which was obviously much more messy.

Ahh this is getting me nowhere. How do I narrow down this list at all? Okay okay, calm down. Just think. Think about the facts. I need to stop paying attention to likelihood and start paying attention to alibis. Xisuma's murder first. 

It's pretty safe to assume that the thumps we heard were the sword and Xisuma striking the wall respectively. False heard them both so she's a suspect. Cub didn't hear them and nobody can confirm he was outside on the roof like he said so he's a suspect. Stress was seen going into her room so she has an alibi, but that's not exactly helpful now. I saw Mumbo and Doc go into their rooms so they're safe for that night too. I know that most people saw Grian walking towards his room, but since nobody's rooming next to him, nobody would hear his door open or close. False fell asleep right after the murder too, so that's not helpful.

Okay so that didn't do much, but maybe we can look at Impulse next. I shoved my emotions aside as I thought about the loss of my friend and all the preceded it.

Doc and Mumbo had clear alibis that night, along with myself. Wels was the first one awake, but he's definitely not suspicious anymore. Cub and Grian were missing at the time, and Grian, looking back, had clear access to his room without getting spotted so long as he used the passageway. Cub might've also used it, but he'd have to exit early and get into his room which was directly beside Stress. If he had gone in or out of his room, then Stress would've heard his door. Instead, she heard footsteps. Cub was innocent that night. She woke up to the death message too, so that would mean that whoever was lying had to do two things in order to pull this off: walk by Stress's room and leave the crime scene before Impulse was even dead. The secret passage was a perfect explanation, but why would they use it? It seemed like it would take longer than just going through the doors… unless they got their clothes wet from the fountain. Then that would mean they couldn't go inside to get to their room without dripping water everywhere they walked. If they had clothes in the secret passage that got burned in the fire, then that would explain why they took the long way around and had to walk by Stress's room. The people's who's rooms are there, sans the ones who are unfortunately not present, are Cub, False, Zedaph, And Doc. Still not much better, but we're getting somewhere.

Next was… Wels. We didn't even find his body at first. Grian's room was revealed to be connected to the passage, but he nearly died himself just from being in his room. If he was the killer, a lot of things just wouldn't make sense like why he'd put himself at risk by taking that room and going far enough as to help Cub get cleared of suspicion, even if it kind of backfired. Though I'll try to stay away from that kind of evidence, I'll keep it in mind. What caught my attention the most was the entrances to the passageway. Namely the one under the bed. It's safe to assume that the passage was used, otherwise the killer likely would have had some issues when they were trapping Wels in that place. It was hard to squeeze under that bed and only a few of us would be able to do it, namely Grian, False, and Zed. Another suspicious point for Grian unfortunately.

I moved on to Stress. This was around the time where everyone began to get sick. False was basically out of commission at that point and was obviously not faking. Same with Grian and his inability to breathe.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock.

"Yeah?" My voice croaked in response.

"Hey Tango. I was just… wondering if you wanted to talk?" It was Zedaph. He was worried. But now wasn't the time. It didn't matter what was going on. I was supposed to help and darn it I would. So my conflict could wait.

"No, not now."

"R-really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." There was a pause.

"...Alright." and then he left.

Back to my thoughts.

Then there was Mumbo. He died a long, long death. Poison. From those darn flowers. His symptoms were similar to False's as well, so there was a good chance that they were both poisoned. Though while Mumbo died from it, False appeared to have recovered somewhat. Zedaph told me that Mumbo and Cub were in the kitchen getting a drink that day. Cub was looking suspicious in that case.

But… no…. Wait.

No that-

They-

Oh. 

Oh my-

Aggggghhhh, I feel so STUPID!

I sat up so fast that it made my vision swim. I ignored it and bolted to my door. The only thing on my mind was the moment we'd first started to arrive here. How could I have missed that!? It's so obvious in hindsight. And I MISSED IT!? I practically tore my door open and bolted to the first person I saw, who happened to be Doc, and just about yelled at him to gather everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loading data...   
> Congratulations! You have unlocked Easy difficulty!  
> Proceed?  
> Confirmed.  
> Loading Final Solution...  
> Loading Complete.  
> Please await the final input...


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: The guilty party is revealed in this chapter. If you think you are ready for the answer then please proceed. I hope you enjoy and that you got it right :)

“Doc!” I could hear my voice echo as I called to him. He snapped to attention and immediately rushed over to me, disregarding the fact that I was already running toward him as well.

“Tango? What’s-”

“Where is everyone!?”

“Uh, well False is in her room, and Grian, Zed, and Cub went into the attic.”

“Well, we need them all here! Now! I know who’s behind this!” My voice cracked harshly and I was starting to quiver with adrenaline.

“Okay okay, but first calm down. Tell me how you know.”

“There’s no time! We have to get to everyone else before-” and I was interrupted by a heavy thud that felt like it shook the whole building. I knew it didn’t, but it might as well have. Then, almost immediately afterward, I heard a ping from my communicator.

Too late. Doc took out his communicator and for the second time since we’ve been here, after glancing at the line, I saw his hand tighten around the device and make the technology inside buckle and crack. I took out my own communicator as I led Doc to the attic, only paying as much attention to where I was going as was needed so that I could look at the death message.

“Cubfan135 was squashed by a falling block”

If there ever were a time for me to curse, it would’ve been there. I felt horrible. Betrayed. Confused. Everything. But then again, something strange obviously happened. I could sense foul play at this point. I don’t know how it happened, but it did. Though if even this could happen, then escape could happen. I just had to keep my progress going.

When we arrived at the ash-ridden attic, the first thing I noticed was that a shelf that was originally upright was now facedown on the floor. I wasn’t going to look at the labcoat-clad body with the head not visible as it had disappeared under the heavy shelf for long because Doc grabbed my shoulder and directed me toward a large pile of tarp and canvas. I immediately saw why as it started moving and making choking noises. I grabbed the tarps and ignored how they flung around smoke and dust when I tossed them aside.

And there was Grian, tightly wrapped up in one of the tarps so that he couldn’t escape and a piece of cloth that had held on to so much smoke and ash that it had been discolored was shoved in his mouth. He couldn’t move and he was clearly suffocating. Doc helped me to release him and we didn’t wait for him to talk. We knew that he wouldn’t be able to so Doc just hoisted him on his shoulders to take down to the lower floors so that we weren’t just idling around in a room contaminated with not only smoke but also the smell of blood as the newest corpse made its presence known.

We were stopped though by False barreling into the room as fast as she could from the very inconvenient entrance. Her eyes caught mine and Doc’s, so I decided, since everyone that needed to be there was there, that I would finally speak up about my realization.

“Zedaph.”

“What?” False questioned, looking like she couldn't quite believe it. I took a deep breath, glancing at Grian who seemed to already know what I was going to say.

“It’s Zedaph. He’s been doing this.”

“But… but he would never…”

“That’s just it. You’re right. He wouldn’t. But something happened when we arrived here.”

“...What?”

“Before we left to come here, I flew over with Zedaph, but he turned around to go get his bowtie.” When I said that, False’s eyes widened and I could see Doc clench his jaw in the corner of my eye.

“Out of everyone here, only two people never had an alibi for any of the murders. Those two are Cub and Zedaph. One of them is dead, and there’s something else.”

“What?” I took a deep breath before responding to False.

“False, do you remember him leaving with us?” There was a beat of silence as I could see False scan her own memories.

“... no… no I don’t…”

“Aw. You figured it out.” The familiar voice with an unfamiliar tone sounded from the other side of the room and we all whirled around to see Zedaph looking at us like he was mildly disappointed in us.

“What was this? What did you do!?” I shouted at him, not bothering to control my volume. Doc let Grian off of his back so that he could either support me or move at a moment’s notice. At least, that’s what I assumed his reason to be. Zedaph looked at us and sighed with heavy exasperation.

“Oh calm yourself. I just did what I had to. I had to prove a point. An important one too.”

“A point? You did all of these horrible things to prove a point!?”

“Quiet down, you’ll make my ears bleed. And yes. Though you’ll understand why in a moment. I trust that you, Doc, will understand if not Tango or Grian or even you, False.” I held my tongue and waited for him to explain. If he was going to spill his plan, it won’t fall on me to stop him.

“I brought you here to show you what perfection was. Those who could not maintain their position in this place were not able to achieve perfection. I was perfectly clear in my invitation that this would be a seminar fit for those who were capable of improvement. There are many types of people in this world but I know what perfection is. It is instinct, survival, and raw, untainted emotion. That is what the creatures of this world live like, and we as people are the outliers. 

“This seminar was a place for people who I knew could rise above what society has taught them. Anyone who wasn’t able to listen to their roots has no place among those who achieve perfection. No matter what world you are in, it is always survival of the fittest. That’s how it was originally, and that’s how it should always be. There is no room for extra endeavors when your life is your priority. Life is more important than building, and those who lost their lives in this seminar lost it because they put their sanity over their own life.

“And what better way to spread this idea than to go with the bigger people. Do you even know how famous you hermits are? Of course, I had to ask you to come! Though it was obvious that not all of you would agree with me, so I used the only universal language to communicate this idea to you. Violence. And I succeeded, right? You agree with me, right?” I was about to open my mouth to object, but I was cut off.

“Yes, I agree now that I hear what you’re saying.” said Doc from beside me. He still looked on-edge, but he was more relaxed now. Zedaph(?) looked suddenly pleased with himself.

“There, see? I was right! I had a good feeling about you, in particular, Doc. Here, I’ll be considerate and ask you your opinion: What do you think we should do next?” I wanted to sock this guy in the jaw so badly. Doc continued talking with a confident air about him.

“I think we should get the rest of the hermits here. I can go and get the others here while you wait. I don’t think everyone will listen to just me after all.”

“Yes! That’s a good idea. See you three?” He asked, addressing False, Grian, and I.

“Even your friend agrees. Alright, Doc, I wish you well on your travels, Make sure to mention how important these ideas are, alright?”

“Of course.” Doc smiled a bit and his eyes drifted over to me and I got a good look at his expression before he flickered away and a chime sounded from my communicator, signaling his departure. But I caught the look he gave me. And so did Grian and False. Doc just lied. He’ll be back. But until then, we had to keep this guy distracted.

“How did you even do this? Worlds don’t behave like this.” I spoke the first question that came to mind. Zedaph scoffed.

“Like it was hard. How do you not know this? It just took some modification to make sure you didn’t come back or leave once you died. And if I could do that, then what’s stopping me from looking and sounding like someone else?” When they said that, I was suddenly very relieved. He resembled Zedaph so much and when they said that and basically confirmed that he wasn’t our Zedaph, the weight in my chest lightened a little. I was still very very upset that they even dared to take the face of my friend, but we had bigger concerns. 

“Did you build this place though?” False spoke up, sensing my loss for words. “Zedaph” scoffed again.

“Hell no. I planted the flowers though. You really seemed to enjoy those, Falsie. Out of Cub, Mumbo, and myself, you seemed to have the worst reaction. That took a lot of effort, you know. I prepared a lot before you guys arrived.” He looked so proud of himself. But we had to keep dealing with it. Just… long enough for Doc to do something.

  
  



	25. Chapter 25

Come ON Doc, we’re running out of distractions…

He’s taking so long that I really don’t know if we can keep this up. False has been trying to help me out, but Grian hasn’t been able to do much since he can’t talk after being nearly suffocated by ash. I was very glad that whatever jerk took the identity of my friend was such a talker. We must have heard three different speeches about the proper way to survive and how the worlds should be. 

But we’d hit a lull in the conversation. There were about three beats of silence before I realized that both me and False couldn’t think of anything else to ask him. 

“Well, I think I’ve stated my point enough. You get it, don’t you? Now though, it’s important that you don’t start blabbing everything to your friends once they arrive here, so let’s just-” His speech was interrupted by a worryingly loud frenzy of coughs from Grian. He started at that. Good. It looked like he was about to access the admin panel with how he was holding his hand out. 

Though the delay really only lasted a few seconds. He just huffed and brought up the admin panel. I couldn’t think of anything, so I just did the only other thing I could think of.

I lunged at him. I tackled him to the ground and was happy to hear the sound of the admin panel fizzling out. 

“Get off me you idiot!” His voice hurt my ears and I noticed that his entire tone had changed. The voice and face was still Zedaph’s, but he’d lost the accent and mannerisms that I knew so well. 

“No!” I pinned him by his wrists to the floor and I heard Grian’s coughing behind me and saw False move near so that she could pin him by his shoulders. I assumed that Grian was keeping his legs from moving.

“You can’t get out, you know! Even if you kill me!”

“Then we’ll just keep you down until someone else does something!” False said. Her voice was strong, but I could see her face begin to pale. She’s still not well…

“Oh yeah? Who? Who in this pathetic multiverse would come for you? You have no communication, all of your friends are clueless, and your last friend is already against you! You don’t even have your precious cams! You can’t even record what goes on here, much less tell anyone about it! So why don’t you just give up, you can’t pos-”

“WARNING. WARNING. THIS WORLD HAS BEEN DEEMED A VIOLATOR OF BASIC PRINCIPLES. PLEASE WAIT WHILE THE COURSE OF ACTION IS BEING DECIDED.” A loud, robotic voice projected from all of our communicators all at the same time. It didn’t take long before it came back. In fact, it only took about five seconds before it began rattling off more warnings and shouts. Not-Zedaph had stopped struggling and his eyes had gone wide.

“THIS WORLD HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF BREAKING BASIC CONDUCT. ANY ADMIN RIGHTS HAVE BEEN STRIPPED FROM THE PRESENT PLAYERS.”

“What!? No! I’m perfectly allowed to do this! There are other worlds people can’t escape, so why is this one targeted!?” Not-Zedaph shouted so loud that his voice cracked and I probably would have gotten sick of the loud voices if the first loud voice wasn’t our apparent savior. I didn’t even know how Doc was able to get this kind of authority here, but boy was I glad he did.

“THIS WORLD IS CONTAINING POST-LIFETIME PLAYERS AND IS THEREFORE VIOLATING BASIC CONDUCT. THE WORLD WILL BE RESET NOW, BUT WILL FIRST BE TEMPORARILY CLOSED FROM THE MULTIVERSE.” The voice had no emotion in it whatsoever and I immediately wondered if Grian had talked like that to people before. Either way, I don’t think I’d ever be this grateful for the Watchers than now. 

“No! This ideal is above that stupid rule! Let me go! Give me my world!” Not-Zedaph was starting to struggle again, but we held fast to him and kept him pinned to the floor.

Then, in the middle of one of his shouts, the world went dark.

My body was weightless and no surroundings were visible. I was logged out. Oh. Oh thank goodness. 

I used the spoken commands to join the very safe and very familiar Hermitcraft world again, vowing to not leave for a very long time. 

The air was crisp and I felt a restfulness return to my body. I no longer had streaks of ash covering me and the air was cleaner in every way, even with the must of mycelium still lingering in the air. I would take that fungus any day over smelling the blood of a decaying corpse.

One by one, I saw people appear around me.

False was first, color returned to her face and the familiar light back in her eyes. Her smile was so unbelievably refreshing and I saw her shoulders slump down to a relaxed posture.

“Oh we’re back! We’re back! I’m… I’m not leaving again for a very long time…” False said, now just looking tired, but still much more alive than she had been.

Next was Grian. His skin was no longer painted grey and when he arrived, I saw him suck in a deep breath and hum a note of satisfaction.

“Oh good. Oh good.” There was a moment’s pause as he stretched and took another breath before slumping down similar to False and widened his eyes.

“Oh never again…”

After Grian was Cub. As soon as he appeared, False, Grian, and I all melted into relief, He wasn’t gone for good. Cub rubbed around his neck and sat down on the floor.

“Unpleasant doesn’t even begin to describe what that felt like…” he mumbled. 

Doc came next. He looked so frantic and immediately after he appeared in front of us, he asked us,

“Where is everyone? Are they all okay?”

“We’re still filing in I think.” Cub said. Doc relaxed a bit after seeing Cub, but remained relatively tense.

Next was Mumbo. He appeared and sighed with relief before lowering himself into the grass and placing an arm over his eyes. I picked up a little of what he was mumbling, but he looked physically fine and not tense at all.

“Hours. Just hours and hours of sickness. I’m not having tea again. Not again. Never. I don’t care if someone offers it to me. That was horrid. Never again.” His little speech to himself made me curious about what they experienced while dead, but I didn’t feel like asking would be a good idea right now. I saw Grian put a hand on his shoulder. 

Stress showed up next. Alive and well thankfully. Or… physically well at least. She looked so shaken up and was clutching around her neck. She didn’t say anything, and instead went over to False who just let Stress fall into her arms. It wasn’t a nice sight, but overall, I was just glad that she was here now. She could heal.

Wels came after Stress. He came in taking deep breaths like Grian did and ran his hands over his arms and torso.

“Phew. Okay. Very… very not nice. Good to see you guys though.” Wels almost seemed surprised at his own voice and relaxed a bit when he was able to run his fingers through the cool grass.

“I’ve decided that I don’t like fire...” He said it lightheartedly, but I could tell he meant it to the most serious degree.

Impulse and Xisuma showed up at the same time. Impulse was taking such deep breaths that I thought he might hyperventilate and Xisuma seemed to be keeping a hand on his helmet. I embraced Impulse as soon as I saw him and Xisuma was dragged into our group by Doc. We didn’t talk for a long time and just enjoyed the open air and the beautiful shopping district. Curiosity got the better of me and as quiet as I could muster, I asked Impulse a question.

“What was it like?” He hesitated, but seemed to have an answer for me anyway. I suspected that he was expecting me to ask that.

“Well… try to think of it like drowning, but for a few days. I couldn’t see anyone else either. Why did he…”

“It wasn’t Zedaph.”

“Huh?”

“Well, it was? Kinda? But not really. Not our Zedaph. Just some imposter.”

“He wasn’t actually Zedaph? Actually, I guess that makes sense. You could do that if you used those special worlds.”

“Exactly.”

“And that world is gone anyway.” Doc butted into the conversation, evidently hearing us despite our efforts.

“Actually, that’s another question I had. How did you get actual Watchers to intervene. They’re really stubborn you know.” Grian piped up. Doc gladly explained.

“Yeah it took some convincing. I don’t know how you managed to deal with those guys before. It’s like talking to a wall.”

“With great difficulty. Why do you think I quit?” Grian asked.

“Fair enough. Well it turns out it’s really against their rules to keep people in a world against their will if they’ve already lived a lifetime in their original world. But we’re all post-lifetime so it’s super illegal to keep us anywhere we don’t want to be.” Doc explained.

“As soon as I mentioned that we were post-lifetime, they got really mad and blocked off the world.” 

“Yeah that sounds like them…” Both Grian and Xisuma spoke in unison, both having dealt with the Watchers firsthand. I remember when Xisuma had to negotiate with them when Grian first joined. They weren’t terrible, but I got the sense that they were sort of like helicopter parents to anyone they were close to and about as easy to get along with as a brick wall. Their attachment to their (admittedly scarce) laws really came through for us. That and Doc’s ability to lie.

“Good job by the way, Doc. You really saved us there.” False said, now holding both Stress and Wels near her while combing her fingers through their hair.

“Thanks. But like… it was so hard not to deck that guy in the jaw. It was so, so hard!” Doc lamented with a tiny growl in his voice. I responded right after.

“Trust me I know. I probably would’ve if you hadn’t said anything!”

“Oh. Right. Uh, speaking of which, I think you all should know that we don’t know where the guy is. He was just kicked from the world and I wasn’t able to see who he was or where he is now.” Doc said, obviously strained.

“They didn’t like, lock him up or something?” Mumbo asked, not taking his arm off of his eyes.

“No. Apparently they don’t do that.” Doc grumbled. From the look on his face, I’d hazard a guess that he’d already asked that.

“Hey guys!” All of us jumped at the new voice that was running up to greet us. We all turned to see Zedaph running towards us, waving a hand in the air and smiling at us. We all tried to relax, though it was admittedly a little hard.

“How was the seminar? Actually, more importantly, what the heck? You left me behind! I told Tango that I had to grab my bowtie and you guys left without me!” We all looked at each other and Zedaph seemed to pick up on the tension.

“Guys?” 

I sighed.

“Trust me Zed, you wouldn’t have enjoyed it. It was… a little intense.” Zedaph just cocked his head to the side and furrowed an eyebrow.

“Uhh, alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many many thanks to all of you for reading, and I really hope you liked it! I have plans for another story that'll probably be more similar to Biome Curse, but I want to finish my character studies before I do that. Thanks again to all of you for sticking through this and for all of your lovely comments!

**Author's Note:**

> I wonder what a gloriosa lily is...

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Hiraeth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28359930) by [CreamerCrumble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreamerCrumble/pseuds/CreamerCrumble)




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